Experimenting with Upcycled Plastic Grocery Bags



I began creating plastic woven material from long strips of plastic grocery bags, and decided to try a small project first to see how well it would work. This is a child's size purse made entirerly from recycled bags and the round plastic top from a milk jug. This type of purse would be safe for a 4 to 5 year old.

The woven plastc material is surprisingly strong, and was created using a 'pot holder' loom. The small size of the loom makes it necesary to make squares that would be fastened together with a crochet-like process, as seen below, to make larger items. This works well for some items, though it leaves open areas that might not contain smaller items and may not support as heavy a weight as the woven area itself.

While designing the child's purse I think I have developed better techniques for attaching the woven squares together, giving the seams much more strength and solidity which I'll try on further projects.

My honey has begun making me a larger hand loom that will enable me to make much larger sheets of the woven plastc material for which I have several ideas for creating different designs and plans for future useful and decorative projects.