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Fuse Plastic Grocery Bags for Crafting
Posted by Gina Trapani at 10:00 PM on April 13, 2008
Crafter Amanda turns simple plastic grocery bags into tote bags, wallets, floor cushions, and waterproof liners for beach bags—by fusing them together with an iron. Cut, flatten and layer six to eight bags on the ironing board, place parchment paper over them, and iron the whole stack to meld it into a useful, reusable thicker plastic for sewing together every which way. See the post for examples of what you can do with the stuff. Don't forget you can also crochet grocery bags, too.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
NikP
Posted 10:54 PM 13/4/08
Just yesterday, I was thinking to myself: wouldn't that be a neat idea?
Thanks!
NikP
twinsenw
Posted 2:48 AM 14/4/08
This was a weekend project in Make Magazine at one point. I tried the project out myself and while ironing the bags together, I got a pretty intense headache. Then I thought, "Oh, burn plastic bad." I was breathing in all those plastic fumes. This is a pretty unhealthy way to craft. If you're going to do this, do it outside or in a well ventilated area.
twinsenw
sgstarling
Posted 1:37 AM 14/4/08
Hmmm... ironing? Sewing...? Not for me, thanks. But I admit, I'm having trouble keeping from being buried in these dang earth-damaging plastic bags! I gotta get some re-usable bags to go shopping with...
sgstarling
scarabic
Posted 5:50 AM 14/4/08
Yeah that was my question: what are you inhaling if you do this? I think I'll leave the plastic recycling to the pros.
scarabic
Aanidaani
Posted 8:30 AM 14/4/08
Think about all that energy that's being wasted melting the bags. The CO2 output alone of making the bags outweighs the benefits to be gained by reusing them, instead of just recycling them.
Aanidaani
Kin
Posted 10:16 AM 14/4/08
You can't recycle them (almost everywhere) low grade (wasted money/ energy recycling & damages quality if undetected)...
Fusing them does release toxic smoke...
Ironing boards do use a lot of energy for something that's "meh" in how much it helps.
Other things like EV are on so many magnitudes more important that these posts aren't worth it :)
AND EFFICIENCY. That's 1000% more important. Almost every house with a quick check up can be improved to a greater extent then using a plastic bag.
Unless....You shop alot. Like ALOT. But then, your driving back and forth to the store is so many times worse then the bag...Right, so, yah.
Kin
tomjrace
Posted 12:08 AM 15/4/08
LOL! Kin I was just about to write the same thing. But I will say that you would know if you were burning plastic, It would release carbon in the form of SMOKE! and the bags would be BURNT. I think this is a great Idea. But if you are worried about the wasted energy, you could always just pay the crafty people to make you stuff (which you probably do anyway) except the energy is not wasted, because they made money off it. :)
tomjrace
sgodun
Posted 1:18 AM 15/4/08
Breathe deep the toxic fumes of melting plastic. Go Darwin go!
sgodun
HeartBurnKid
Posted 2:39 AM 15/4/08
@sgodun: This is why fans were invented.
HeartBurnKid
infmom
Posted 12:26 PM 15/4/08
@Kin: In California, stores are required to take those plastic bags back for recycling.
infmom
ChuckECheese
Posted 3:23 AM 20/4/08
@scarabic: The fumes are what is known as a benefit.
Target has these bags for sale for $6 each. Then they also have this weird deal where you can buy the Earth Day edition of Newsweek Magazine for $5, stick your old Target bags in the pages of the magazine, mail the magazine to some fulfillment center, and Target will mail you back a "free" tote bag. It's gotta be the weirdest promo I've ever seen.
ChuckECheese