Plastic Bag Fabric!

by Lego man in Craft > Reuse

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Plastic Bag Fabric!

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In this tutorial I will show you how to create a kind of fabric from a plastic bag. Disclaimer:this is not my idea this was originally on make podcasts.

Parts List

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To make your fabric you will need: A plastic bag (of course), an iron ( the ones you do laundry with), wax paper, and an ironing board. (Lovely assistant optional) May I remind you wear proper respiratory protection and use a well venelated area. This may do the same harm as spray painting, breating in or sniffing a sharpie.

Cutting

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1. First cut the handles off your plastic bag like so.

Then cut the bottom off your bag with scissors, my lovely assistant points to the spot.

Folding

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2. Cut one side and lay the bag out flat, it should look like the pictures. Then keep folding until you want to stop.
I stopped at three folds, making an 8 ply layer. Se that in the images.
Fold the bag in half with the ink inside (This is important!, if you don't the ink will make a mess later on.)
Place wax paper on the top and the bottom and you're ready to go!

Making It

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4.Set iron to dry iron and at a temp. above polyester and below rayon. (In my case it was level 3).

Then place iron on the wax paper but keep it moving, if you just leave it in one place it will burn through the plastic.
Keep heating the plastic until you think its done. Check it, if it crinckles then heat that area.But if it dosent, it should peel nicely off the wax paper.

Finish

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Good job you have made a durable plastic fabric (hee hee it rhymes!) This technique also works for trash bags.

Holes: holes appear if you stay in one place to long. It burns right through the plastic.

If you want to see the original idea
click here:
Make: Podcast

Please leave comments on this instructable, its my first and I want to know how to make it better.

Thanks for viewing!