All Entries in the "Plastic" Category

make your own plastic sheet

Tory Hughes sent in a link to this cool video - make your own bioplastic with household ingredients: vinegar, glycerin, starch and water. You can even laser cut shapes from the plastic sheet.

New art material? If you try it let me know how it turns out!

Test sheets of bioplastic hanging to dry

via Shapeways

margaux lange re-members barbie

As a child Margaux Lange was obsessed with Barbie, using the doll as a tool for “acting out and exploring the human relationships in my own life, as well as the fantasy lives I imagined.” Now 30 years old, Lange is still obsessed with Barbie and it has served her well. The Brooklyn artist, who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art, uses Barbie doll parts in her widely collected jewelry line, “Plastic Body Series.”

SMACK! Brooch, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver

The Kiss, doll parts, sterling silver

“Whether revered or despised, there are few who feel neutral about the plastic princess. I am fascinated with who she is as a cultural icon and the vast impact she has had on our society.” Margaux Lange

Goosebumps Hand Brooch, doll parts, sterling silver

Lange takes Barbie’s best bits and combines them with resin and sterling silver, creating whimsical, nostalgic, humorous configurations that offer collectors a unique way to remember their childhoods.

Quote Bubble Brooches, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver

She began using Barbie in her art in high school, but it wasn’t until 2001 that she started to deconstruct (or re-member as she likes to call it) the iconic doll and use the parts in her jewelry.

If The Shoe Fits Bracelet, doll shoes

Senses Bracelet, doll parts, pigmented resin, sterling silver

Fun. Fashionable. And a trip down memory lane.  Do go and take a look at her whole portfolio and be sure to visit her blog where you can get a good sense of the work that goes into this jewelry.

Winged Neckpiece, doll arms, sterling silver

Margaux Lange and friends

I also enjoy the funny juxtaposition of wearing the body, on the body. Barbie has become the accessory instead of being accessorized. I take pleasure in the contrast and contradiction of mass-produced materials transformed and revealed as handmade, wearable works of Art.” Margaux Lange

When I was researching Lange I was surprised to see that many people find the jewelry creepy and ‘out of a horror movie’. Really? Lange has a great eye, appealing sense of humor and all of her skills blend beautifully. What’s creepy is how long women have held on to the idea that Barbie had the perfect body. THAT’S creepy. Lange’s jewelry? Smashing and fashionable!

Lange’s Etsy shop here.

Lange’s blog Midge’s Mind where you can see many of her pieces in progress - the resin, the metalsmith details, the bins and bins of Barbie bits and pieces.  Wow…

Read an interview with the artist here. Another interview here.

Couldn’t resist including Lange’s Barbie coat hanger ornament.  Click on the thumbnail below to see more ornaments.

courtney starrett: rubberMADE

Courtney Starrett hopes her work will make you think about the social standards that drive many of our behaviors and how those standards came to be. While I am always curious about an artist’s intention regarding their work, I am also aware that as viewer and wearer, our interpretation is often markedly different than what the artist intended.

The Sociable Choice, bracelet, silicone rubber and grommets

Starrett’s RubberMADE collection of silicone rubber and sterling silver jewelry doesn’t make me think about social standards.  It simply makes me want to take a big, juicy bite out of life.  I see sexy shapes, delicious colors and art that begs to be touched.  Just a little.  Maybe a lot.

The Sociable Choice, bracelet, silicone rubber and grommets

You Don’t Have To Be, ring, silicone, sterling silver

Instant Corsage, neckpiece silicone rubber, sterling silver and magnets

Domestic Goddess, neckpiece, silicone rubber and grommets

Starrett, who earned an MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, is an assistant professor of metals/jewelry at Winthrop University in South Carolina.  Read more about her and the inspiration behind RubberMADE  here.

joseph barbaccia’s sequins: what you see is what you get

Glittering sequins imported from India and billowy, hand carved polystyrene armatures come together in Joseph Barbaccia’s sculpture series Sequins, underscoring the truth that craftsmanship trumps materials.

Acedia, 2009, polystyrene, sequins, stainless steel pins, 37″x10″x9″

Acedia, detail

Interested in the textures created by the sequins when pinned to the polystyrene forms, Barbaccia became attracted to the simplicity of the sequin as an art material.  While bold colors distinguish many of the pieces, others draw you in with undulating, slug-like forms that look as though they might slither away if unwatched for a moment.

Infinity, 2007, polystyrene, sequins, stainless steel pins, 9″x15″x9″

Barbaccia, who studied at the Tyler School of Fine Art in Philadelphia, concentrated largely on representational drawing and painting for many years, eventually adding encaustic works on plaster. In 2003 his work shifted again and in an effort to emphasize craftsmanship and meaning, he began creating sculptures that utilize the most basic materials. Equally compelling is the D.C. area artist’s Integration Series - a group of mixed media sculptures that amuse, shock and provoke. You can view them, and his encaustic work on the website.

Euphoria, 2008, polystyrene, sequins, stainless steel pins, 17″x21″x21″

Euphoria, detail

“My work is the product of vision. What you see is essentially what you get. There are no hidden agendas or secret meanings. The process of creating extends past the initial vision and manifests like waves spreading out from a stone dropped in water consisting of everything and everyone else; including the artist’s involvement.”

Barbaccia’s work can be seen at Neptune Gallery

Read an article about the artist here

jin young yu: the invisible people

Korean artist Jin Young Yu addresses feelings of being invisible, of not fitting in the world. The faces on her full-scale figures are haunting and sorrowful, yet the colors and patterns are bright and vibrant.

Yu’s life-size figures are clear PVC plastic (the type of plastic used to make soda bottles) and clay.  Working from sketches, she sculpts the human form in clay, makes a plaster cast and then lays sheets of PVC on the mold, heating the plastic so it can take form around the plaster mold.

Her work resonates with me. I understand. I have been that invisible girl/child/woman at different times in my life - and you? Have you ever felt invisible in this fast-paced world?

My works are about people who, instead of getting along with others, choose to keep a distance from them, and be invisible or be left alone unconcerned. Instead of trying to fit into the world, they climb into a space of their own and reject other people’s intrusions. Jin Young Yu

Read an interview with the artist on Arrested Motion

Work in progress pictures here

More images at Union Gallery

jocelyn kolb: computer aided design jewelry

Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3d Printing allow Jocelyn Kolb to create jewelry that is both organic and precise.  Kolb, who has an MFA in metals/jewelry/CAD from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, describes the process below.  These images are from her 2008 MFA Thesis Exhibition - you can also see a few of Kolb’s pieces on the Wexler Gallery website.

Maelstrom Brooch, resins, 3.5″ x 3.5″ x 3.5″

Digitalis Brooch, resins, 3″ x 2″ x 6″

Digitalis Brooch, resins, 3″ x 2″ x 6″

“Once I model my work on a computer it is produced by using a machine that 3D prints or builds the pieces layer by layer, an additive process that has always reminded me of the growth of tree rings.”

Spadix Neckpiece, gypsum resin, 14″ x 14″ x 3″

Turitella Brooch, resins, 3′ x 2′ x 6′

Turitella Brooch, resins, 3′ x 2′ x 6′

carol-lynn swol: twice as nice

In late 2006 I wrote about Carol-lynn Swol’s Tyvek in this post and today I happened upon it again while researching another artist.  Her work still makes my heart flutter so let’s take a second look.

Interruption Bracelet, dyed and cut Tyvek, sterling silver

Swol has a passion for manipulating materials and she has done a masterful job transforming Tyvek, the tough-to-tear plastic used to make shipping envelopes and building wraps, into jewelry with an organic aesthetic.  She dyes, cuts, stacks, swirls, heats and shapes this durable material, taking it from boring to breathtaking. Tyvek is as thin as paper, adaptable and resilient - characteristics that leave room for endless possibilities. More from Swol’s collection here.

Wave Brooch, Tyvek, sterling silver

Edges Bracelet, dyed and heated Tyvek

Spirograph Bracelet Blue, dyed and cut Tyvek

Iiiterate Brooch Three, dyed Tyvek, sterling silver, stainless steel wire

moshiko’s polymer resin and precious metals

Jewelry designers worldwide embrace a variety of plastics in their work as the material adds visual interest and resolves design challenges such as weight. Moshe Botser (aka Moshiko) is a self taught jewelry artist who has been working with synthetic polymers and precious metals for more than twenty years. The Israeli artist gathers inspiration from nature, science and architecture. His Sculptural Rings, with interesting shapes, contours and color-filled playful designs, shout “I have arrived!” This jewelry is meant to take center stage and destined to be the star.

Bracelet, sterling silver, resin chips

Ring, sterling silver, resin

Ring or Sculpture? Sterling silver, resin

Bracelet, sterling silver, resin, hand painted surface

Polymer is the material that represents our era and as a contemporary artist I feel obliged to work with it.

abigail connell mixes it up

Although Abigail Connell uses a variety of disparate materials, her winning collection of pendants, bracelets and earrings is well executed and quite lovely.  Her website boasts nine different collections - each one a cohesive body of work that stands out on its own.  Connell seems to have an innate ability to strike just the right combination of materials from a growing list that includes sterling silver, 23 karat gold leaf, freshwater pearls, polymer clay, resin, dirt, flower petals and stamens, grass, rubber, bronze, steel, copper, plastic and rubies.

From the Megan Collection - sterling silver, 23K gold leaf, freshwater pearls, dirt, grass, flower stamens, resin

From the Molly Collection - sterling silver, polymer clay

sterling silver, 23K gold leaf, dirt, grass, resin

Connell seems to have an innate ability to strike just the right combination of materials from a growing list that includes sterling silver, 23 karat gold leaf, freshwater pearls, polymer clay, resin, dirt, flower petals and stamens, grass, rubber, bronze, steel, copper, plastic and rubies.

sterling, freshwater pearls, polymer, sand

From the Eloise Collection -  stainless steel, freshwater pearls, rubber

I couldn’t find much about the artist online - many thanks to Tali Salvador for the link to Connell’s work.

jessica drenk sees things out of order

Jessica Drenk likes to experiment with materials - coffee filters, cosmetic pads, PVC pipe, cotton balls, toothpicks, books.  Drenk looks for man-made materials that can be manipulated to simulate patterns found in nature. She gathers ordinary materials, distorts their shape, adds fire, wax or porcelain slip and pushes them well past their intended use, creating provocative new forms.

Cosmetic Skin, cosmetic pads dipped in porcelain slip and fired

Colony, singed toilet paper rolls, wax

I was initially drawn to Drenk’s work when I saw a photograph of Colony, the Cellular Composite above.  The pattern was interesting enough for me to look closer and when I realized what it was made of I was compelled to look further.  I don’t think I will ever look at a roll of toilet paper the same way again.  And isn’t that the point?

Cup Lids, plastic cup lids, wax

Toothpicks, slightly burned toothpicks

I believe there is value in looking beyond the category, the classification, the signifier— to muddle distinctions and see things out of order.  The grey spaces in between categories, the things that do not fit into the classification, can reveal our standard modes of thinking and push us beyond the limits of the known. To step outside of the logical places in our minds and embrace the intuitive— this sparks important new connections between previously unrelated categories.

charlotte fontaine: bioresin bague

Charlotte Fontaine is a young jewelry artist from Geneva, Switzerland working with a form of the bio resin that we looked at last month here. I’m not sure, but I think those are flowers captured in the resin.  These rings remind me of snowglobes - I’m trying to figure out if the open setting, like the one shown here, would make a ring of that size more or less comfortable on your finger.  What do you think?

I experiment by playing with metal and mixing different types of materials. By seeing the contrast between raw matter coming out of the oven, a flower, a seed or a shape made out of wax and the softness that comes from this shape, which is the essence of my work.

More about Fontaine on Klimt.

fie von krogh: is plastic the new gold?

Fie von Krogh has a love-hate relationship with plastic.  Understanding that the material is made from oil and that oil is a resource that men will go to war to “gain and keep control of it”, von Krogh ponders this idea: Since the plastic derived from this resource lasts forever, perhaps we might fare better if we view it as a precious material rather than a pollutant with the illusion of being disposable.

Images of micro-organisms add pattern to the plastic, which the artist covers with 23 karat gold leaf and fine silver leaf, heat-treating the trio to create “a synergy of gilded plastic.”  von Krogh playfully wonders if this new material might be the new gold? Something to think about this fine Tuesday morning.  More from Fie von Krogh on the Triennale 08 website.

I am always preoccupied with contrasts – those we find in materials as well as in their constituents: contrasts between the beautiful and the ugly, the conventional and the surprising. In this way, I seek to find expression for harmony between past and present.

sarah king: eco plastic jewelry

Sarah King uses Bioresin, a new non-toxic resin made from plant cellulose, to create hollow forms that are hand drilled and inlaid with sterling silver.  The UK based jeweler, who began her career using  gold and silver, started experimenting with the eco plastic in 2000.  She hasn’t looked back.  There is something decidedly sensual about the way the silver inlays shift the color and translucence of the white resin.

We took our first look at her carved and cast bangles back in 2006.  Going across the pond?  Take a class with the innovative King and learn how to craft your own Bioresin bangles.

jenny llewellyn is positively glowing

Jenny Llewellyn is a young jewelry designer based in London with a playful sense of whimsy.  Since graduating from college in 2007 Llewellyn has researched the use of translucent silicone in jewelry, creating wearables that are not meant for shy or retiring types.  It takes moxie to wear Sea Plumes that glow in the dark or earrings named Polyps that look like growths growing out of your ear lobes.  Think you’ve got what it takes? Really?!

Polyps can be worn as earrings or a pin

Sea Plume Necklace, silicone, light gathering acrylic, silver

Sea Plume glowing

Color Fade Brooch, silver, silicone, phosphorescent pigment

My designs take inspiration from the luminous colours, shapes and movement of creatures from the deep sea. I use these qualities to make playful pieces that move with the wearer and glow in the dark.

rachel darbourne: green jewelry

Rachel Darbourne’s geometric spheres are made from discarded polythene sheet - better known as plastic bags.  Darbourne folds, stacks, arranges and pairs the colorful plastic with silver to make the “green” jewelry…and blue and purple and pink too. Take note of the playful way she uses silver circles to capture the discs (purple necklace) and that ring - oh, that ring!  Clever.

Darbourne’s full line is here:

Gallery One
Gallery Two
Gallery Three