{"id":19282,"date":"2015-01-01T03:05:45","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T11:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=19282"},"modified":"2015-01-22T15:26:36","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T23:26:36","slug":"faux-fordite-wire-weave-pendant-polymer-clay-tutorial-vol-080","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/faux-fordite-wire-weave-pendant-polymer-clay-tutorial-vol-080\/19282\/","title":{"rendered":"Faux Fordite Wire Weave Pendant | Polymer Tute Vol-080"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Faux<\/a>6 Videos #609 to #614: <\/span>Also known as Detroit Agate, Fordite is a now scarce byproduct from the vintage automotive industry.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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To kick off the New Year I thought it would be fun to do a tutorial that has been requested by several loyal members over the past 12 months… Faux Fordite<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Fordite is a man-made stone<\/em> crafted from the layers and layers of colorful paint over-spray that used to accumulate in the large paint booths\/ovens of the vintage automotive industry… hence the namesake references to Ford<\/em> and Detroit<\/em> … otherwise know as the Motor City<\/em> where many, many cars have been manufactured over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back when the automobile mass production factories still employed humans to hand paint the car bodies one at a time, the over spray would accumulate on the floor and on the assembly line racks. The different colors of paint would built up in large chunks consisting of 100’s and 100’s of layers. These accumulations would get baked and re-baked into rock hard shiny composites, very much like real gemstones found in nature. When the paint accumulations became too thick, the workers would chip it off and toss the unique material into waste bins.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually, some clever crafty workers decided it was too beautiful to trash, and decided to collect the pieces to cut into stones and beads for jewelry. Today however, production car painting uses magnetic electrolysis techniques… which means no over-spray… and therefore… no more Fordite! It is for this reason that “Detroit Agate” Jewelry has now become highly valued by collectors all around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Posted just below are a couple of videos that will give you a quick summary (as well as some visual inspiration) about the history of Fordite.<\/span><\/p>\n