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Bakelite Jewelry
During the early stages of plastic development, Bakelite (or phenolic resin) was popular in the 1930s and 1940s as a low cost alternative to expensive raw materials such as jade and pearl.
Developed by a Belgian chemist named Leo Baekeland (hence the name, Bakelite), initially the material was developed for the purpose of providing a durable coating for the bowling alley lanes. The chemical process was patented by Dr. Baekeland, and he soon utlized the material for automibile manufacturing, used most commonly as an insulating coating for automotive wiring.
It wasn't until a decade of exploration that Bakelite was finally made available to the consumer market. Thomas Edison used Bakelite as the base for his early commercial phonograph records, it was used to make billiard balls, or handles for flatware and hand-held mirrors.
The manufacturing process of Bakelite accessories was simple, yet labor intensive and time consuming. Craftsman would order the material in cylinder or block forms, use powered hand tools and grinders to carve out individual pieces for resale. During its peak, Bakelite jewelry became the rage among fashionable consumers, and during the depression, its inexpensive value eventually attracted the masses to its unique qualities.
Ultimately, Bakelite-Catalin's labor-intensive and toxic process proved to be its undoing. After World War II, mass production became the plastic industry's buzzword and Bakelite became a pleasant memory. Collectors today prize it for its patina and its versatility, it is not unusual for a typical Bakelite bangle to be priced anywhere from $200 to $600. Unscrupulous dealers, however, have tried to sell other plastic items as authentic Bakelite. One test for authenticity is called the hot pin test. Interested buyers should find an inconspicuous area of the object in question and apply a heated pin. True Bakelite gives off a distinctive odor as it melts, very similar to the scent of burnt human hair. If the pin melts the object but no formaldehyde/burnt hair odor is detected, it is most likely an imitation.
The closest modern day manufacturing process that resembles Bakelite is called polyresin. Adia Kibur Accessories is probably one of the few companies around that produces all of its plastics in respect to this process.
Polyresin combines the dense and crisp quality of Bakelite, with the ease of casted molding process. The polyresin material arrives in sealed buckets of liquid form, it is then opened, and poured into well-oiled molds that were negatives of hand carved originals. The molds are then air dried for a day or so, with the finished products released from the mold, and then polished with fine pebbles in a rotating machine.
last modified Jul 22, 2006 at 14:53
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