I’ve become a little obsessed with statement necklaces lately, wither they be made from wood or acrylic. I can’t remember when I started following i am acrylic on Instagram but I can certainly tell you why! Ruth and Brendan produce wonderful pieces of acrylic jewellery from their shop in Bristol (interesting fact: they live there too!). One day they posted an image on Instagram promoting a workshop. I jumped at the opportunity to create my very own piece of art to wear.
I was greeted warmly on a wet Sunday morning, being the first to arrive. With the wonderful offer of a nice cup of tea and promise of some home baked treats for later (these were cookies by the way). Soon I was joined by a local lady and a couple who had travelled from London.
My design started the night before the workshop, a terrible drawing on my phone. I then drew out a far better version when I got there, and decided to remove the rain drops. Mainly because I didn’t think I would have enough time but also because rain and hot air balloons don’t really mix…
Once I had figured out what my design was going to be, it was time to select my acrylic colours! There were a few sparkly options, so I knew I had to figure a way of using some of that.
I then cut out my paper templates and drew round these onto the acrylic protective film with a ballpoint pen. Then it was time to get the saw out and attempt to cut out the pieces making sure not to break too many blades (thankfully I only broke two). The key to this was to move the acrylic and not angle the saw, which is a lot harder than it sounds!
Once all of my pieces were cut out, it was time to finish off the edges. You smooth these out using metal files and wet/dry paper. Again there is quite the technique to doing this, making sure you don’t file too much but doing it enough to get rid of the cutting marks.
Finally it was time to piece it all together. Ruth advised on hole placement and created the holes for me. She also added the chain from the balloons to their baskets, clued the sun onto the cloud and then added the main necklace chain.
Here you can see my masterpiece in all it’s sunny glory! I’m pretty proud of this, from start to finish in only 4 hours.
It was such a wonderful experience and I hope to do it again soon. In fact, I’ve already booked myself onto the next one, however this time I’m taking a friend along with me.
