American Art Plastics

What happened to all the beautiful plastics of the 1920s, '30s, and '40s?
Celluloid: translucent, pearlescent, protean, able to imitate everything from exotic woods to precious stones. Bakelite and Catalin: rich colors, weighty and solid. Casein: a natural plastic with a natural feel, nearly as versatile as celluloid, favored for knitting needles to this day.

Newer materials have pushed them out: materials that are cheaper to make, more suitable for rapid mass production. Yet production of the old materials is not quite extinct, though as a practical matter they remain virtually unobtainable: special-order items with huge minimums and long lead times, with expensive and complex international shipping requirements.

Until now.

Celluloid is back! Real celluloid - not the acetate or acrylic that is sometimes misrepresented as celluloid - which fully recaptures the color, the depth, and the unparalleled "feel" of the original artisanal plastic of the 1920s and 1930s. Our first shipment of newly-made celluloid slab and rod is in, and our second will available shortly. A selection of colors and patterns appears above; see more here.

And along with celluloid, hard rubber! Classic ebony black, but also colored ebonite, solid and mottled, all made with 100% natural rubber. Order it now here.

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