I work in Orange County California, close to Disneyland, and we
often get in character related jewelery from the magic kingdom, wich
sells the stuff, but no one wants to pay admission prices to go back
and get repairs done. The piece we have now is a lucite bracelet
based on the Tiki Room parrots. It is too small for the customer’s
wrist and she wants it sized somehow. Her idea is to cut it in two
pieces and add a spring hinge and a hook clasp. What we would like
to talk her into is grinding it out from the inside. The whole
spring hinge thing seems like waaaay too much work for a thirty
dollar trinket, even if it is from Disneyland. Our concern, not being
familiar with lucite, is-how does it take to grinding, what medium
would work best, and is the color all the way through or just
applied to the finished piece? And if we cut it in two, will it
shatter or chip? Does anyone here have experience working with this
material who could warn us of other potential hazards that maybe we
haven’t even thought of yet, and advise us how best to tackle this?
Without seeing it real life its hard to say but I would look
carefully at what the finished dimensions will be if you grind out
the inside. I assume this is a bangle? If it has a half round cross
section remember that the width may decrease as you grind more out
and certainly it will get weaker in any case.
The whole spring hinge thing seems like waaaay too much work for a
thirty dollar trinket
Sometimes people spend real money to make trinkets work to their
liking. I don’t know that I’d rush to a spring hinge(this would add
significant stress to the piece) but cutting the bangle in half and
making end caps with hinge and clasp shouldn’t be too big of a
deal(measure wrist and bracelet carefully, you might have to add
length in the caps). There has to be enough structural integrity in
the bracelet halves to hold its shape when working against the spring
if you so choose. I’d probably run a rivet through caps and lucite
rather than rely solely on glue.
I’d make the pitch this way to the customer…“Here’s what we
propose, which will make your piece wearable and durable, would you
like that in 14 or 18K?” You might as well shoot for bigger money in
the beginning.
The best way to resize an acrylic ( lucite, plexiglas etc. ) is just
to heat it and soften it enough to take a little larger bend. You
should be able to find several plastics distributors in that area. I
used to know of a place very near Disneyland, but I know they have
moved and not close by. Try the yellow pages or a goggle search for
the area. You can find on the web by goggling “heat
bending acrylics”. The public library should have instructions and a
local high school or community college art or shop dept. may be able
to give hands on help. It is simple to do but learning on some ones
else’s stuff is always a bit risky particularly when an emotional
value is attached.
The piece we have now is a lucite bracelet based on the Tiki Room
parrots. It is too small for the customer’s wrist and she wants it
sized somehow. Can’t you just heat it and bend it a bit bigger?
That’s probably how it was shaped originally.
I used to bend a lot of this stuff. It doesn’t respond well to
heating with a torch. Plastics shops sell a rubber strip with wires
embedded, you plug that in and lay it over the area you want to
bend. It takes 15 minutes or so to get to the right temp for bending
and sometimes you have to bend in small increments and reheat.
Thanks all for your input. I am really reluctant to put heat to this
piece, it is shaped like parrots and palm trees with a lot of
detail, and if it is softened, wont these details be in danger? Also,
it is a bangle, not a cuff, so adjusting the curve is not an option.
There is a bracelet just like it on ebay, with good pictures, if you
want to see what I am talking about.
After looking at the tiki bracelet, I think Neil’s suggestion of
cutting the bracelet into two or three pieces and using end caps to
connect them is the only thing you can do. The caps will be complex,
since the thickness is not uniform. They should also be pinned or
riveted and glued like Neil suggests. I don’t think you can grind out
enough material to make it large enough without weakening it. Here’s
a photo of a jade bracelet that is done in sections like that. I
would use heavier, double jump rings to connect them instead of how
they did it, however.
