Resin = Plastic

[1/6andtinylover]

Hmmm.....

BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC PHONE COVERS WITH SUNFLOWER SEEDS!

Or something like that...it exists. (I'm a green sort of person.) Now we just need the sunflower seed phones in dollieh scale. And then we can stick mini phone covers in our garden wih dolls holding sprinklers.

[OkamiKodomo]

Half-gallon plastic jugs to contain the wonderful Pomegranate Mandarin Red Tea that I adore so much? Game consoles? Cheap paint brushes?

[richila]

Also without plastic there wouldn't be Obitsu's....And without the original Obitsu's there wouldn't be Bitty Bitsu's!

No Bitty Bitsus! A world too horrible to imagine.


Cordie and friends by richila9098, on Flickr
Ziplocs and snap-locks!!!!!!!!!!!!

[victoriavictrix]

Most of my doll clothing and 3/4 of my own clothing. Yes ladies and germs, polyester and rayon are forms of plastic, as is spandex.

And that wonderful (if hideously expensive) alternative to leather, Ultrasuede and Ultraleather.

[Alopecia No Hime]

Also without plastic there wouldn't be Obitsu's....And without the original Obitsu's there wouldn't be Bitty Bitsu's!

No Bitty Bitsus! A world too horrible to imagine.


Cordie and friends by richila9098, on Flickr
Ziplocs and snap-locks!!!!!!!!!!!!

A world without bitty's is a sad one indeed. (First time my mom has been excited for one of my dolls to arrive. We're both excited and she keeps saying how she can't wait for Haruhi to arrive. Soon we'll go hunting for clothes for her in the basement.)

DVD's!

[Trethowan]

We need an anthem for plastic.

Oh Plaaaastic, oh Plastic, petrol oil shine on theeeee,
With sporks and spoons and baby's rooms,
We manufacture theeeeee!!!

Ok, that was lame. Someone do a better song.

[arrowchild]

clears throat*

O-oh say can you see
By the plastic's pure shine
What so proudly we used
To make our cool dolliehs

Whose spandex
And rayon
Used in sewing machines
Were so proudly displayed
On our bitty Obitsu's

And the resin's price tag!
Balloons bursting in air!
Gave proof through this thread
That plastic's everywhere

Oh say is that phone cover
Bio-de-grade-a-ble?
I say my doll-ieh.....eh!!!
Is made of awe-awe-some stuuuuuuuuf!

[Trethowan]

heeheehee... this is great. *hand over heart*

[embyquinn]

Ooh! Ooh! Emby gets to geek out! w00t!

Most people think of plastic dolls as fairly modern inventions, but in fact synthetic (man-made) materials used in the construction of dolls goes back almost two hundred years! The earliest dolls were made of wood and other natural materials, but in the 1700s wax became a popular medium. Sadly, wax is fragile and prone to melting and losing its shape. Wax dolls were also very expensive. In the early 1800s dolls began to be made out of a form of papier-mache that was much sturdier than wax. In fact, some papier mache dolls were given a thin "skin" of wax to look more like their more costly and less durable sisters. In the mid-19th century china dolls (glazed porcelain) and bisque dolls (unglazed porcelain) became all the rage, but although these were sturdier than wax dolls and more attractive than papier mache, they were easily broken and still quite expensive to produce, since the dolls were hand-cast and hand-painted.

Fun Fact #1: To justify the high price tag of bisque dolls, oftentimes manufacturers would give them human hair wigs, real eyelashes and even real eyebrows. Less expensive china dolls seldom had wigs; their hair was molded and painted.

Finally, in the late 19th century, dolls appeared which were made from a magical substance called celluloid. Yes, the same material that old film strips were made out of. Celluloid was the first widely-used plastic and served to make a lot of things we expect to be made of plastic today--costume jewelry, hair ornaments, combs, picture frames, buckles, buttons...and, of course, dolls. Celluloid was cheap to produce, easy to mold, and durable...to an extent. Sadly, in an effort to lower costs and meet demand, many celluloid dolls were made so thin that they were easily squashed flat when stepped on or hugged too tightly. Celluloid also degrades over time and the doll would grow brittle with age, sometimes disintegrating altogether. Worst of all, being made of cellulose, alcohol and camphor, celluloid was HIGHLY flammable. You might as well give your kid lighter fluid to play with. By the 1920s, people figured out that celluloid plus open flame equals serious fire hazard. Oops.

Fun Fact #2: Today the only celluloid you're likely to see is ping-pong balls and guitar picks.

Once celluloid fell from favor for dollmaking, the age of composition came to pass. This was basically a modeling clay made from sawdust and glue, with the occasional addition of binding or thickening materials such as cornstarch or resin. Not polyurethane. Actual plant resin. These dolls were marketed as "unbreakable" because they were sturdier than any material that had been used before. French dollmakers began using this type of composition in the late 1800s, but the material really came into vogue with the mass marketing of celebrity dolls like Shirley Temple in the 1930s. Composition was probably the most popular material for mass-market dolls until the advent of--wait for it--plastic dolls in the late 1940s.

Fun Fact #3: You can make your own composition with sawdust and wallpaper paste. Just be sure to seal it once you're done molding your figure or it might crumble over time.

The first hard plastic dolls appeared after World War II. The plastic of which they were made was hard, shiny, easily colored and durable, similar to the ABS of today. It may or may not have been early polyvinyl chloride (PVC). These dolls were less expensive than those of composition, bisque or other materials, easier to mass-produce, and simpler to articulate. The transition from hard plastic to softer, cheaper PVC (what we call vinyl) took place in the 1950s when vinyl became the material of choice for most dolls, a trend which continues to this day.

Fun Fact #4: Hard PVC + phthalates (plasticizers) = soft PVC. However, some plasticizers have a nasty way of leaching out of the plastic over time. (Any vintage Barbie collector knows what I'm talking about.) Plasticizing processes today are usually effective in minimizing and/or eliminating this problem.

Carrying this through to its conclusion, polyurethane is a very durable and versatile polymer plastic which is used in the casting of figures and other decorative elements, including some flooring, due to its ability to hold fine details and its porcelain-like surface. It's more expensive than PVC, particularly when used in resin casting. Because it's less porous, it stains less readily than most vinyl.

Fun Fact #Last: Spandex is made from polyurethane. So are car dashboards, upholstery foam, tennis grips, varnish and Gorilla Glue. I could go on, but you get the point.

[Alopecia No Hime]

Ooh! Ooh! Emby gets to geek out! w00t!

Most people think of plastic dolls as fairly modern inventions, but in fact synthetic (man-made) materials used in the construction of dolls goes back almost two hundred years! The earliest dolls were made of wood and other natural materials, but in the 1700s wax became a popular medium. Sadly, wax is fragile and prone to melting and losing its shape. Wax dolls were also very expensive. In the early 1800s dolls began to be made out of a form of papier-mache that was much sturdier than wax. In fact, some papier mache dolls were given a thin "skin" of wax to look more like their more costly and less durable sisters. In the mid-19th century china dolls (glazed porcelain) and bisque dolls (unglazed porcelain) became all the rage, but although these were sturdier than wax dolls and more attractive than papier mache, they were easily broken and still quite expensive to produce, since the dolls were hand-cast and hand-painted.

Fun Fact #1: To justify the high price tag of bisque dolls, oftentimes manufacturers would give them human hair wigs, real eyelashes and even real eyebrows. Less expensive china dolls seldom had wigs; their hair was molded and painted.

Finally, in the late 19th century, dolls appeared which were made from a magical substance called celluloid. Yes, the same material that old film strips were made out of. Celluloid was the first widely-used plastic and served to make a lot of things we expect to be made of plastic today--costume jewelry, hair ornaments, combs, picture frames, buckles, buttons...and, of course, dolls. Celluloid was cheap to produce, easy to mold, and durable...to an extent. Sadly, in an effort to lower costs and meet demand, many celluloid dolls were made so thin that they were easily squashed flat when stepped on or hugged too tightly. Celluloid also degrades over time and the doll would grow brittle with age, sometimes disintegrating altogether. Worst of all, being made of cellulose, alcohol and camphor, celluloid was HIGHLY flammable. You might as well give your kid lighter fluid to play with. By the 1920s, people figured out that celluloid plus open flame equals serious fire hazard. Oops.

Fun Fact #2: Today the only celluloid you're likely to see is ping-pong balls and guitar picks.

Once celluloid fell from favor for dollmaking, the age of composition came to pass. This was basically a modeling clay made from sawdust and glue, with the occasional addition of binding or thickening materials such as cornstarch or resin. Not polyurethane. Actual plant resin. These dolls were marketed as "unbreakable" because they were sturdier than any material that had been used before. French dollmakers began using this type of composition in the late 1800s, but the material really came into vogue with the mass marketing of celebrity dolls like Shirley Temple in the 1930s. Composition was probably the most popular material for mass-market dolls until the advent of--wait for it--plastic dolls in the late 1940s.

Fun Fact #3: You can make your own composition with sawdust and wallpaper paste. Just be sure to seal it once you're done molding your figure or it might crumble over time.

The first hard plastic dolls appeared after World War II. The plastic of which they were made was hard, shiny, easily colored and durable, similar to the ABS of today. It may or may not have been early polyvinyl chloride (PVC). These dolls were less expensive than those of composition, bisque or other materials, easier to mass-produce, and simpler to articulate. The transition from hard plastic to softer, cheaper PVC (what we call vinyl) took place in the 1950s when vinyl became the material of choice for most dolls, a trend which continues to this day.

Fun Fact #4: Hard PVC + phthalates (plasticizers) = soft PVC. However, some plasticizers have a nasty way of leaching out of the plastic over time. (Any vintage Barbie collector knows what I'm talking about.) Plasticizing processes today are usually effective in minimizing and/or eliminating this problem.

Carrying this through to its conclusion, polyurethane is a very durable and versatile polymer plastic which is used in the casting of figures and other decorative elements, including some flooring, due to its ability to hold fine details and its porcelain-like surface. It's more expensive than PVC, particularly when used in resin casting. Because it's less porous, it stains less readily than most vinyl.

Fun Fact #Last: Spandex is made from polyurethane. So are car dashboards, upholstery foam, tennis grips, varnish and Gorilla Glue. I could go on, but you get the point.

And resin is also used in on occasion in vetrinary practices on animals like turtles to help repair cracks in their shells and such.

Sorry had to say it. And the plastic anthem EPIC!