Week 3 – Plastic fusing & Fabric of thread techniques

Plastic fusing involves making a new sort of material by fusing plastic bag scraps using heat. Many differently coloured plastic bags and even fruit wrap sponge were used to be fused together between 2 layers of baking paper using an iron.

Above are the 2 sides of the material created from plastic fusing. What i like about it is the random nature of the pattern, no 2 are alike, and that with a variety of colours of plastic to choose from we can create exciting colour combinations, not to mention the text on some plastic bags creates a recycled feel.

I was wondering what application i could use with this material, and I decided to make this:

The fused plastic became the ‘cloth’ piece in this handheld fan, serving both an aesthetic and functional purpose. The shape is also a simplified motif of the butterfly.

Next technique is fabric of thread.

 

Fabric of thread is a method where a sort of new cloth or fabric is created by sewing intertwining and overlaying strings and threads of cloth and yarn together.

First the threads of yarn are arranged in a random pattern over each other until satisfied. Next they are sandwiched between a folded layer of watersoluble material that feels like plastic but is organic based. Then, sewing in a criss cossed fashion with vertical and horizontal lines of sewing a mesh grid is created that holds the yarn strings together. Next the piece is soaked in water for the material to dissolve, and placed over a shaped mould to form its shape. The piece is flat here because I flattened it to fit into the bowl.

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