COMPRESSED BAGS EXPERIMENT

Came across a kickstarter project by Carter Zufelt. I was able to purchase a PDF instruction manual of how to create my own mull cubes from home!

Extracted some key instructions from the manual:

Step 1: Gather the necessary materials

- Plastic bags ( Thermoplastics: HDPE 2 and LDPE 4)

- Heat source

- Baking sheet/pan

- C-clamps

- Mould materials

- Tools to handle plastic with and gloves

Step 2: Creating the mould

Wood is the ideal choice of material to create the moulds as they do not stick to PE plastic unlike metal.

I improvised the mould slightly and created 3 different size moulds.

1) 6 by 6 by 3cm

2) 10 by 10 by 3 cm

3) 15 by 15 by 3 cm

Step 3: Collecting the plastic

Introducing my colourful plastic collection:D

Step 4: Cleaning

Due to my laziness and the lack of colours in the used plastics i collected. i used new plastics instead combined with some . so saved some time by avoiding this step.

Step 5: Melting

HDPE has a melting point of around 250 degrees and LDPE slightly lower. Plastic should melt to a sticky consistency as in the image below.

(30-50 bags works the best)

I can continue to add bags in to bulk it.

Step 6: Manipulating

After the plastic is heated to the consistency, i could work it in a variety of ways. repeatedly folding the plastic in was a way to create the beautiful swirly patterns! Once the plastic losses its tackiness, pop it back into the heat source before working with it again.

This is a vital step as it removes the air bubbles trapped when heating the bags.

Step 7: Pressing

Remove the plastic from the oven and press it into the mould . Take the top of the mould and press it into the plastic. Position the c-clamp evenly across the top mould. Continue to tighten clamp every 10-20 minutes as the plastic shrinks when cooled. Consistent pressure is key for smooth outcome.

OUTCOME:

- The clamp could not be tightened after 10-15 minutes as per instruction. Could have possibly been due to the cold weather conditions when working with the plastic.

- Aesthetics of the plastic was pretty! i did not fold as much for this product, but the colours still looked amazing :)

I decided to trim the uneven edges off using some machineries. Instead of marble looking cubes, somehow the cubes looked like wood grains instead. Still pretty satisfied with it though :p

Not quite sure what i could do with the cubes though :/

Attempted to use the bottle stripped plastic strings to bind the off-cuts together. Perhaps i could build some furniture with the cubes?

I repeated the same process with just a singular colour bag out of curiosity. Ended with a lava-ish kind of block. The technique definitely looks better with the swrily patterns!