Plastic-bag Tote

-Assignment Intro-

This assignment instructs us to make a tote bag that can hold a two-liter water filled bottle using 8-10 unrecyclable plastic bags as at least 75% of the raw materials. There is no limitation on the way we construct the tote bag.

-Making Process-

I set up the machine and after ironing the plastic plain, I folded the piece and sewed it so that the bottom will be strong enough to hold a weight of 2 kg.

Then, I decided to use brown paper taken from the inner bag from the westside market to make the sides. I intentionally remain both whole sides of the brown paper inner bag so that it can perfectly fit and fold. Therefore, I make my tote bag foldable, when it is not in use, we can simply fold it and it will just go plain.

As you may see from the pictures above, the brown paper makes sure I can fold the bag and I intentionally cut off the handlers. Instead, I cut out two holes from the material I used for the front and the back so that it can hold more weight. Using handlers can be dangerous since it can come apart when the weight is over endurance.

-Reflection-

This assignment really challenges my patience since ironing plastic is an irritating process: you have to watch it shrink and have no idea at which direction the plastic will shrink. To fuse and connect, you have to patiently iron the piece again and over again. Besides the challenges of my patience, that is definitely a creative way to make a bag out of unrecyclable trash that might hurt the environment, which is full of social responsibility.