Day 27- Technicolor Tubing

3/27/14

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, my trip to Canal Rubber landed me some incredible materials. Today I worked with some of the tubing I purchased; both the neon red and the larger clear pieces.

I knew I wanted to do some sort of layered look, in particular I realized that the neon red tubing looked really neat when threaded through the clear tubing as it appears to be suspended in the center. I experimented with alternate ways of embellishing the clear tubing, from drawing a pattern on the surface to wrapping with ribbon. (The neon tubing looks pink in some of the photos but it is actually neon red. Almost pink.)

I think coloring or printing on the tubing would be a great way to go, but I didn't have the patience to follow through with this today. 

I landed on a ribbon wrapping technique that adds color and dimension while allowing the neon tubing to shine through.

After wrapping the tube with an aqua grosgrain ribbon back and forth, I inserted the neon red tubing, leaving it longer to allow for additional flexibility and to attach the closure.

I used a wider and slightly darker grosgrain ribbon to wrap the ends of the tube neatly. 

I inserted jumprings into the ends of the neon tubing and added short chains and a clasp. The clear rubber isn't too flexible but it lays well at the collar.

Necklace: Rubber Tubing, Ribbon, Chain

What's cool is that this piece could actually come with interchangeable tube colors as the neon tube is not fastened to the clear, only threaded. It could be sold with different color options for the inner layer. Looking forward to using the rest of the rubber!

xo,

Arielle