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...

Cryptic Moth

I was procrastinating today looking at Core77's Ultimate Gift Guide and came across Cryptic Moth Productions. They are über awesome. Two guys put together this documentary, "Addicted to Plastic" that they traveled around the world investigating the major issues involving plastics in the environment. They also blogged about their whole experience and so far I read through their 3 weeks spent in India. They have mentioned people and places that are trying to do something about the accumulation of plastic and the issues that arise while doing it. Like the NPO, Conserve India, that has locals pick out all the plastic bags, wash them, and organize them by color to then send out for processing to make another material, HRP: handmade recycled plastic. They take the HRP and make funky accessories like shoes, purses, and jewelry. I'm not really into the aesthetic they chose, but the idea sounds very familiar...


and of course they don't just make cool looking fashion items, they also make sure to tell you that:
"With the support of the Asian Development Bank, we are currently working on a project to generate income, through the production of this material, for the less advantaged communities in Delhi."
That is just reinforcing what I already know: my project needs a cause. It needs some reason/problem to solve...grrr...i have no idea what to do about that. Maybe I'll try reading a news magazine or something to find some great cause that my designs can be geared toward.

Post-Review

I have lots of thoughts regarding my review, but I don't feel like getting into it right now.

Tonight I am going to make a plastic bag recycling receptacle out of plastic bags. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to use the text and images already on the bags. Plus I'm going to see what happens when I write on it with permanent marker. Can permanent marker withstand intense heat on plastic?

oh and...plastic bag flower pots? <---that's a reminder for me