What is the technique?

Plastic Fusing is the use of heat to combine unwanted plastics making them into a new piece of plastic ‘fabric’.

What are the relevant materials needed for the technique?

• Plastic bags, bubble wrap, wrappings, plastic containers, etc(any plastics that can be melted by iron)
• Iron
• Ironing Board
• Baking Paper
• Scissors

How to achieve the technique?

1. Cut the plastics into desired shapes/pattern and layer them together.
2. Turn on the iron (temperature as required)
3. Place the layered plastics between 2 pieces of baking paper.
4. Iron over the baking paper, checking back and forth by holding down one side of the baking paper and peeling the other end, and check whether the plastic has fused as desired.
5. Repeat step 1,3,4 until the design is complete.

*Note* if residue/ink of the plastic bag got stuck onto the baking paper, change for a new piece of baking paper to avoid the fused plastic from sticking onto the baking paper, destroying the design in the process.

What are the uses and applications of the technique?

This technique could be used to recycle unwanted plastics, making them into useful materials like bags, accessories, wallet, etc.

Photos

Collecting plastics for this method

Ironing the plastic, making sure the plastic doesn’t over melt

Experimentation

Making plastic bag from plastic bag

Own personal reflections

I find this technique very interesting as it starts to make me look at plastics that I use to think are trash. Collecting different packing, trash plastic, bottles containers.

I think this technique also allow many new texture to be possible, through fusing different plastics and experimenting with the heat of the iron, number of layers of plastics, etc. However, colour combination is tough using this method, as almost all of the material used are recycled, which means we are forced to think of what design is possible given the limited choice of colours and materials.