Plastic Craft 1970's

[shilton dipper]

One fad I remember from my childhood is the 1970s love of embedding unlikely objects in plastic. You mixed up polyester resin with hardener, poured a little into a mould, then added your objects - coins, flowers, keys - and then topped the whole thing off with more plastic resin. After an agonising overnight wait for the plastic to set you could then paint the back and after another agonising wait you were left with the petrochemical age's equivalent of a fly caught in amber, as shown in the above examples.........have to say mine never looked as impressive as those
There wasn't a great deal that could be done with the final result. A paperweight or ornament was a good bet and if you were lucky you might end up with a pendant, ring or a key ring to put your bike lock key on.

[battyrat]

Re: Plastic Craft 1970's

Dad had several kits and done a few himself.Sea horse,coins,etc.The thing I do remember was the amount of air bubbles in the resin around the embedded item.Never looked that good.It's funny you mentioned paper weights as that is what we used them for.Pretty useless things once done.

At one time you used to be able to buy ready made clear resin paper weights and pendants with items embedded in them etc from top end gift shops.I brought a really nice one back in the 70's from a gift shop down the corridors in Bath.They sold some really nice things in there.Just shows that these things were not seen as tat back in the day and were quite commercial.

[FLYING SAUCER]

Re: Plastic Craft 1970's

We did a few of these at school, I reckon they are great. Seem to remember putting a line of 1p and 2p coins in mine, but I do recall shells and sea life like the ones pictured. I'm going to go on a mission to find one now round the charity shops and boot fairs!

[shilton dipper]

Re: Plastic Craft 1970's

We did a few of these at school, I reckon they are great. Seem to remember putting a line of 1p and 2p coins in mine, but I do recall shells and sea life like the ones pictured. I'm going to go on a mission to find one now round the charity shops and boot fairs!

please............don't get one for me