Polymer aka synthetic. Squishiness, colour, sinister origins and uncertain future. Has it all.

The innocuous and simple prettiness of these pieces disguises a more serious message. We owe most of our polymers to the petrochemical industry, and in a future of energy descent these things will no longer be so readily available new. However, many of them will last a long time, possibly on the scale of the more traditional materials used in jewellery. Though they are cheap now, future scarcity may lead to great increase in the cost of polymers.

My plastic jewellery includes both new and recycled elements. Some of the tubing is thirty or more years old; some comes from contemporary hobby shops where it is employed for fuel lines in model cars.