Reinvent your work with Friendly Plastic

Article Added: 13/08/2009 16:07:05
Liz Welch’s online resource site, Rare Bird, tells you everything you need to know about Friendly Plastic and how to use it. The online shop is bursting with equipment, DVDs, books and kits to help you use Friendly Plastic on its own or as part of your textile and craft applications. Liz also runs classes in using Friendly Plastic to create jewellery, masks, embellishments, beads and much more. We spoke to her to find out more…

How did the idea to set up Rare Bird come about?
The idea evolved from my initial discovery of Friendly Plastic when I lived in the USA 20 years ago. When I arrived back in the UK, I ran parties selling the hand-crafted jewellery I made using Friendly Plastic. As I didn’t like to make the same thing twice and the things I was making were a little unusual, the name Rare Bird came about. 

What was the appeal of Friendly Plastic when you first discovered it?
The wonderful range of colours, its light weight and the quick results. It’s really quick and clean to work with, and the fact that it needs to be warm to become malleable the reverse of something like polymer clay intrigued me; as it cools it hardens, and this process can be repeated endlessly. This gives all sorts of possibilities for reworking things and is very economical, particularly as it can be re-coloured if necessary.

What is your favourite way of using Friendly Plastic?
My favourite way of using it is with textiles, using either my Lacework or Oooze techniques. Lacework provides holes to stitch into and makes a small piece of Friendly Plastic go a long way; it gives structure and decoration to all sorts of projects, particularly masks, bags and jewellery. Oooze is the name I’ve given to the idea that warm Friendly Plastic can be pushed through materials with holes in. My particular favourite is oozing through Angelina fibres; this gives a fabulous crunchy textured look that really has the ‘wow’ factor and looks really unique.

For those new to creative textile design, where would you recommend starting with the products available from Rare Bird?
I would recommend beginning with either one of the starter kits or my DVD Bend It Shape It, plus a few sticks of Friendly Plastic. You don’t need a lot of expensive equipment to get started, just the raw material and some instructions! The DVDs are a great way of getting those instructions – it’s of great benefit to be able to watch someone work and pick up all their tips and tricks.

During the current economic recession, have you found that more people are looking for ways to create their own unique designs and products?
The recession has seen more and more people turning to crafts, not only to pass the time instead of going out, but to express their creativity in the form of hand-made, unusual gifts. There is a world-wide renewed interest in Friendly Plastic.

New products appear regularly to buy from Rare Bird. What are your current favourites?
My current favourites at Rare Bird are the colouring materials – Alcohol inks, Pigment Powders, Metal Flakes and Foils.  By reheating and rolling out scraps of Friendly Plastic, a new piece can be made and re-coloured using these products. The Alcohol Inks are simply stunning when applied to the foil surface of Friendly Plastic, and all sorts of wonderful designs and colour combinations can be created.

What are your plans for the future at Rare Bird?
We aim to continue to expand and develop the range of products that work well with Friendly Plastic, and continue to develop the range of instructional material to guide and inspire people. I offer classes and am planning on expanding the range of tuition over the coming years using the internet to deliver useful content to those who wish to learn.

You can keep in touch with Liz’s Friendly Plastic ramblings, new products and ideas on her personal blog at http://rarelizzie.wordpress.com. To try out a pendant project Liz made especially for HotHive Textiles using Friendly Plastic please click here.