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Plexi Class: Cutting-Edge Projects In Plastic | 
 enlarge | Creator: Tonia Davenport
Publisher: North Light Books
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
Buy New: $14.69
You Save: $8.30 (36%)
New (27) Used (2) from $14.69
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 287550
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.1
ISBN: 1600610617
Dewey Decimal Number: 745.572
EAN: 9781600610615
ASIN: 1600610617
Publication Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Class is in session for an industrial twist on mixed-media art!Grab a seat in the front row and get ready to take notes: Youre about to be introduced to Plexiglas as youve never seen it before. Quickly gaining popularity among crafters and do-it-yourselfers, acrylic sheeting (commonly known as Plexiglas) is more versatile, inexpensive and forgiving to work with than glassbut can be used to create many of the same effects. With an easy-to-follow techniques section and nearly 30 step-by-step projects, Plexi Class teaches you how to combine Plexiglas with vinyl, shrink plastic and other unexpected elements to create refreshingly unique jewelry and accessories. - Add texture, depth and color to distressed acrylic with pretty tissue paper, a favorite newspaper clipping or even painted phonebook pages
- Combine plastics with beads and wire for surprisingly light and delicate earrings, bracelets, pendants and more
- Stamp and emboss Plexiglas charms for dimensional, wearable works of art
- Heat and bend acrylic for sleek and simple rings, hair accessories and even a nightlight
All you need are a few simple tools and materials to get started. Let Plexi Class be your study guide for mastering this ultramodern medium.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Cutting edge -NOT June 29, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was so disappointed when I finally received this book! It's a cool looking book, but way too simplistic. The projects are similar and basic, such as using clear plastic shapes in charm bracelets! Where are the colored plexi creations? Where are the heated, bent or formed projects? Where are the bonded, drilled, shaped, colored, layered, real "cutting edge" projects?
It should have been named something like "Beginning Projects with Simple Plastic Shapes" --I would have known what to expect and given it a higher rating in that case.
 Enchanting! June 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Plexi Class-Cutting Edge Projects in Plastic
Tonia Davenport
North Light Books
June 2008
I happen to like books. In fact, I actually love them. I would far prefer a good book to a TV show any day of the week. I'm rather particular about my books. I don't review a book unless I can say without hesitation that it's worth your time to buy it. I highly recommend Plexi Class-Cutting Edge Projects in Plastic by Tonia Davenport. Ms. Davenport has created a fantastic book on how to get started using Plexiglas in your jewelry and artwork. She covers everything succinctly and with total clarity and she makes the sorts of projects that inspire you to race out and give a new material a whirl. That's no small feat. Everything about the book from the clever sheer plastic cover to the punny title to the beautiful designs to the easy to follow instructions to the gorgeous layout and photography all invites the reader in to explore freely. I felt as if I were having high tea with an artist who has a true passion for her medium and that she was kind enough to share with me all of the things she'd discovered on her creative journey.
I found all of the designs to be absolutely enchanting. Usually when you look at a craft title, perhaps you like some of the designs or you see things that spark ideas for you but maybe aren't your style, but this book was filled from start to finish with designs I not only loved but I would buy if I saw them at a retail store. I have never seen any designs quite like these, which makes them unique and exciting. I fell madly in love with the Show and Tell Purse, which reminded me of the wonderful vintage Lucite bags from the early 1950s. The Knotted Nautical Necklace which looks like a tiny tide pool was another favorite. The Heart on a String, with its rustic stitched wire center, resonated with this girl who has had her heart broken more than a time or too
This isn't just a craft book, it's an art tutorial and it is a book that won't gather dust on my book shelf. What North Light does brilliantly is to create books for the novice that aren't cheesy or lightweight. They have substance and they have style. Their books stand out because they're detailed, easy to follow and they aren't pretentious or off putting. When I read a craft book, I want to feel as if the author is sharing something they truly love with me and not as if I'm being lectured or condescended to. Ms. Davenport has created a wonderful beginner's guide to designing with plastic that is totally thorough but utterly lacking in pretense. I'm very excited to explore this book further in my studio and delighted that Ms. Davenport has so generously shared her secrets with us. I think you will be too!
Margot Potter
The Impatient Crafter(tm)
Author The Impatient Beader Series
Inspiration for Mixed Media and Jewelry Artists June 26, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Author Tonia Davenport was at MakerFaire in Austin in October 2007 where I saw her demonstrating her techniques. I've been waiting for this book to come out and I'm really pleased it.
Plexiglas and Lucite are great materials to work with and this book offers solid instruction in basics. This is a great book for those who want to learn to work with these plastics.
The book is visual pleasing, with a good layout and clear pictures. "Plexi Pointers" provide interesting additional information on alternate techniques or ideas.
Most of the projects involve jewelry or wearable items like hair clips and pins. Those who are beginners at jewelry making won't find instructions here on making loops or attaching findings, but you will learn how to work the plastics. I was glad to see that the author stuck to shaping and manipulating the Plexiglas, leaving more room for projects.
This book will interest both jewelry designers and mixed media artists looking for a different medium. One of the great things about working with this medium is that it requires only a few inexpensive tools to get started. Many artists will already have the tools; the only one I'm going to have to purchase is a cutter to score the Plexiglas.
My favorite projects are the solo exhibition earrings, the purse, and the notebook cover.
My only disappointment in the book was that the gallery didn't show items in more detail. They are shown life-sized. I'd like a couple of close-ups.
Rev up your jewelry making skills with a new medium June 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been making my own jewelry for about five years. After learning how to string beads and execute beginning techniques, I took a college course in metalsmithing. While it was fun to learn professional-level skills, it's frankly a lot of work and very expensive, especially with the cost of sterling silver these days!
Tonia Davenport has taken a seldom-used material in jewelry making and made it accessible to everyone from beginners to advanced beaders. If you're interested in metalsmithing, this is not the book for you. But if you are a crafter who loves to try new skills, make cute things that you and your friends will enjoy wearing and playing with a new material that won't break your budget, Plexi Class is a wonderful book to add to your collection.
I thoroughly enjoyed Tonia's designs. While they are minimalist in style, they are not simplistic in skill or quality. They are projects just about anyone can complete with a little practice.
While I've played with acrylic as a medium in scrapbooking, it never dawned on me to see the plastic with fresh eyes and adapt it to my jewelry toolbox. I'm really looking forward to digging through my scraps to make some cool projects, like her Beachcomber Earrings, or her Lack of Concentration Bracelet.
The other fun thing about the book is that it's not just jewelry. Tonia includes projects to make picture frames, hair ties, book covers and night lights. The best thing about this book is you can tell the author is really excited about what she's doing. Her love of acrylic shines through and her enthusiasm is contagious.
 Could have been a lot more.. June 19, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have worked with many acrylics, Plexiglas, resins for some years now and more recently, Robert Dancik's fabulous product Faux Bone. I love the colours available in acrylics, the ability to heat them in your home oven and bend etc to make fabulous shapes for jewellery. I was therefore very excited to finally see a book on this wonderful medium promising "Cutting Edge Projects in Plastic".
Cutting edge, implies unique, interesting, leading the way in design, method and execution. This book does not live up to that at all. It is simplistic to say the least. Cutting out shapes and drilling holes or riveting them together to create, hair barrettes, simple necklaces, bracelets and two questionable rings etc and adding a bit of colour via stamping etc is not "cutting edge". If it had been titled Starting with Plexiglas, or Plexiglas for the first time... it would have been an accurate description and I probably would not have been disappointed.
Only clear plexi was used with colour from paper riveted between two pieces or stamping with inks, embossing powders. It is evident Davenport's own description of her style being "minimalist" is fairly accurate as white and black embellishment is the main focus. I could of course have misinterpreted the whole cutting edge statement, and it may be referring to cutting the plexi glass??
This book is not solely about jewellery, in fact Tonia Davenport herself states " I was not very well versed in the discipline of making jewelry until I started playing around with plexi glas". Perhaps this is why the projects are at a basic level? There is a wide selection of other projects ranging from coasters to book covers, a purse, belt, hair accessories, and covers for a nightlight?! Sorry, the nightlight was just way to cutesy for my personal taste. However, this wide range of projects will broaden the appeal of the book to non jewellery makers.
The work itself is fine, in that it is not badly made, Not sure I would want to wear a belt of plexi rectangles held together by jump rings that are not soldered shut, perfect way to catch fabrics and worse, possible pull open if caught on something, and it is little things like that, that show jewellery making is not her first discipline.
The book does not go far enough, where is the chapter on finishing your work so it does not show scratches, how to get a lovely shine on your acrylic after sanding? This book is more for the crafter, good book for school project use too. This is such an exciting medium to work in, so this book could have been so much more. I will wait now and see what Lark Books has to offer in September 08 with its new book The Art of Jewelry: Plastics and Resin, the front cover tells me I might find what I am looking for there.
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