WORK Gallery

The opening went great! I was almost completely happy with the display and so many people came, it was awesome. I have gotten a few orders/commands for bags that I will fill in the next week or so. The best comment I got at the show was that my project seemed really cohesive, all the parts were well thought out and fit together nicely.

I still need to work hardcore on the website, but this is what I have so far:
http://www.plasticbagart.com

I finished my thesis with a lot of time to spare, so I think it turned out well. I even got go over it two days in a row! That might be a first time for any paper I have written in college.

Check in

I live at the art school. I only go home to sleep. I am okay with this, it is how I work.

I made 5 little travel zip bags yesterday and will make another 5 today. I am also going to redo a couple of them that I did a long time ago and have since perfected the method of making them.

I finished the wallet on Friday. It's nice, could be better. Will make another version if time allows.

Entered one of the laptop cases in the Ann Arbor ReUse Center Art Show. (It was the case that I don't really like the craftsmanship, but I wanted to put something in the show.)

i HATE the laptop cases I have made thus far, so this week I will concentrate on perfecting it. I have some ideas as to how to do it.

The Clutcheroo

Pics of the clutch I finished. FYI: It is inspiring the current laptop case I am working on now.

Progression

I am mushing on with another laptop case. It is going to be much different and involve velcro and maybe a diagonal line or two (that doesn't make sense now, but it will.) The pic above is basically the "color scheme" for the next bag. I really like the colors, but not thrilled with the results I am getting from using the bubble wrap as padding. Sherri gave me this industrial bubble wrap that i guess protected Vespas, so it is strong. Below is an image of the zippered case I finished last week.


I spent about 5-6 hours every day this week in the studios, this weekend I spent about 3 hours saturday and another 3 on sunday. I also have a clutch I made, but pics of that will come soon.

More Studio Time

Logged about 5 more hours on Friday and finished my first laptop case. It is not polished, but it functions. I even used it today.

This first prototype is helping me reassess the design of the bag and now I will be making different assembly decisions. The seams that are just plastic bags sewing together are not very sound and I think they can be reinforced with an edge binding material. The zipper is pretty much impossible to finish off. The sewing machine just won't fit into the small areas that I need it to. I could hand sew it, but the material is so thick that it is very difficult to push a needle through. I think the quilted Kroger bags may just end up working for the padding. I am pretty happy with the aesthetic result and the level of cushioning they provide. I am definitely getting somewhere. YESSSS!

I found my Bible

I have been waiting for the book Manufractured to come in for a few months; checking Mirlyn several times a week anticipating it's arrival. It finally came in this week! I had been waiting so long for it I kinda forgot why I was so excited to read it...but as it turns out, it is my Bible.

It is hard for me to articulate how this book speaks to me. (I totally realize that I am a nerd...a design nerd.) I want to contact the authors and talk to them about what I am doing and see if I can do something...anything for them. They talk about the hybrid that has been created between craft, art, & design, the conspicuous transformation of barely used post-consumer goods as raw material, and just give millions of samples of artists doing such things! I am in love with this book.

Aside from reading, I have logged about 17 hours so far this week on my project. I've been making lots of little bags because I am using them as tests for possible ways to assemble my laptop bags. I have some really promising stuff going on here. I am really excited for the things I'm working on right now. Sherri gave me some great suggestions on how to make piping for the edges out of plastic bags! so good.

Over break, I came up with a cool design for a clutch bag too, so I'm gonna try and do that too. I also came up with another possible name for these products: PB&J: Plastic Bags & Junk. I was into it, but I've been talking to people and the general concensus seems to be that everyone thinks of the sandwich and it is too hard to escape that.

i. am. feeling. stressed.

there is so much I need to do. today i spent 4 hours on a little zip-up bag and it still isn't done! i really like the piece, but the zipper is being a little bitch.

this weekend i am strapping down. my goal is to make 5 little zip bags and 1 laptop case. and if i choose to work on my thesis that would probably be a good idea too.

i don't have a lot of other homework to do, i just have a lot of life-work...finding jobs, sketching for an internship, application for volunteering. but this is my weekend for IP.

Movin' and Groovin'

I met with Shaun Jackson yesterday and talked to him about ways to make my prototypes look polished. He recommended using nylon edge binding. He asked for some sample material and he is going to put the edge binding on it. We shall see if it actually happens. He told me to put the plastic bags in a waffle iron and use that for the cushioning...I don't know how I would prevent the plastic from sticking to the iron. He kept focusing on the manufacturing of the product and the feasibility of producing this material on a large scale. That frustrated me because I don't know that I want to do it on a large scale like that because it will totally take away from the environmentally friendly aspect of it. I also think that I am uber scared of doing on a large scale, it is very intimidating, so that might be part of my resistance. There was an obvious disconnect between his way of thinking and mine. It was nice to see that I don't have the same mindset that he and many of his collegues have. I see it as an opportunity for outward ideas that might not mold to the models that have been used for the past 100 years since the industrial revolution era. Since I don't know much about that arena, I am not bound by it.

wow, that was a bit of a soliloquey.


I also met and spent some time with Anne Knott today. She is a local Ann Arbor artist and friend of Sherri's. In the past, she did a lot of work with plastic bags, ironing them and everything. She was initially drawn to them because of the saturated color and she saw them as an opportunity to add to her large scale fibers work. She obviously came from a very different direction, but we were able to discuss different ways to create visual interest with the bags. She mentioned rusting metal onto the bags and that intrigued me. She is all ready to hook me up with her old sheets of metal that she used to rust her papers and plastics. I see some potential in that. I will definitely keep in touch with her once I have some more finite pieces and she can enhance them by suggesting ways to introduce color.

Terracycle Success

This week I worked about 13 hours and made some negative progress on the camera case. Sherri pretty much told me to abandon the camera case because it is too small of a scale to be sewing on the machines. That is probably good advice seeing as I'm not sure why I was making a camera case in the first place when I want to make laptop cases...sometimes I get sidetracked a bit.

I went to a business school conference on Sustainable Design on friday where the keynote speaker was from Terracycle, Tom Szakey. The company I talked about before that teamed up with Target and Newsweek to make the ReTote bag. I came prepared to the lunch with a sample of my plastic bag bags (gotta work out a better name for them...) I stalked him for about a half hour before his lecture – he was on and off the phone, in and out of the room – because I was a little nervous to approach him. I finally got up the nerve to go up and introduce myself and my idea to him. He was really enthusiastic about it and gave me his card. He told me to email him the laptop case design when it's done and he can pitch the idea to Target! That was a little surreal. I mean he could be all talk, but still, wow. Now I have to figure out how to protect my idea without him stealing it? eek.

Definitely going to log some more studio hours tomorrow because I want to get cooking more on the laptop case!

Grrrrr...

When we got back to school this semester, I went in and filled out all the necessary forms to insure that I have after-hour studio access in the sewing room. But, of course, I went to get in there today and was denied access. Not happy.

I've spent about 12 hours this week, including class time, so I was really counting on today to work in there. I spent some time this morning organizing all the bags I've collected thus far. I mainly did it to find all the Macy and Target bags because those are my favorites right now.

I'm in the process of making this computer case. It's going to be awesome (if I do say so myself). The outer layer is made of Macy's bags (because of the bold red star) and I'm testing out layer a bunch of target bags to make the padding. Unfortunately the Target bags are running low, so I'm going to have to find another solution to padding. I'm playing with some other ideas, but nothing I'm in love with yet.

I watched "Addicted to Plastic: The rise and demise of a modern miracle." It was sooooo interesting! I'm a complete freak, and am building this huge obsession with plastic...Our society is completely reliant on plastic. We are all about disposable design. HOW CAN WE CHANGE???? So frustrating.

I'm feeling good about this project. I'm going to go make myself a calendar to follow now.

peace out.

Case-In-Point

It has been decided...I am making a laptop case out of plastic bags. I will iron several layers of bags together to make the cushioning for protection. Then there will be an outer layer that incorporates the many different colors of plastic bags into a design. Right now I'm thinking either a zipper closure or a buckle/snap closure because I absolutely hate having a velcro closure. Today I collected a bunch of images of already existing cases: some good ones, some heinous ones...even one made of chopsticks!

I also started working on making effective cushioning. The padding is key in my design so I will spend next week finding the perfect solution.

I spent about 15 hours in and out of class this week working on things.

First Day Back

Today I worked all day. 9:30-3:30. I probably did about 5 hours of work. I made a wallet out of a GAP bag and I made a little pillow out of plastic bags and then stuffed it with more plastic bags. Both these ideas were born over break, so I just wanted to make a quick model of each to see how the idea is contextualized.

The wallet is pretty cool. The blue ink on the bag came off onto the paper while I was ironing it and it made a vintage effect which I think enhances it's aesthetic. The one thing I decided is that I am going to start introducing thread into the design because the ironed seams are not pretty and decrease the value of the whole piece. Definitely going to keep this going...polish the design and execution more.

I'm going to make more pillows this weekend...just because...