Recycled Plastic Mini-beasts workshop.......

....after a bad cold and several wisdom teeth lighter i'm finally going to show you how to make the recycled plastic mini-beasts that I did as a workshop at the William Morris gallery on Sunday 5th December. It was a great day by the way and all the finished butterflies, beetles and worms looked great hanging on the tree outside along with the origami pieces.

So first step:
You will need a selection of plastic bags, I for some reason always have a cupboard full, no idea why but it meant I had a great collection just for this purpose. The more colourful the better but even the tesco and asda ones are good to use as they all have colourful text.......



Take one of the bags and cut in two.....


Take one of the sides, fold in half and cut....



Keep these pieces together, fold in half and cut along the fold.......


Carry on with folding in half and cutting along the fold until you have small strips of plastic.....



About 10 plastic bags later you'll have a little selection to make one sheet's worth of recycled plastic.....



Lay a piece of baking paper either on your ironing board or on top of a towel on a work surface and begin to spread some of the plastic bag strips down. This first layer will be seen on one of your sides so make it as colourful as you wish......



Then fill the middle section. I tend to use the boring plastic bags for this bit such as white supermarket bags as it won't get seen and is just being used to thicken up your plastic sheet....



Then layer the top with the colourful ones again, this christmas M&S one looked great with lots of red and green. Just be aware here that the more layers you use the thicker your final piece of plastic will be but the thinner it is the easier it is for little fingers to cut out......


Then put another sheet of baking paper on top and set the iron on full heat.....



Iron all over starting from one end working to the other and watch it shrink!! It's great to watch as it shrinks so kids will love that bit. When you've done one side all over turn over and do the other side too.....


When you think you're done peel back the paper to see your handiwork. You might get a few patches with holes....


Not to worry just put some more plastic bag strips over the top to cover and iron once more with the paper over it.....



And voila, perfect......



You'll then have made your first piece of recycled plastic....


I love some of the great textures you get when the plastic melts. If you're feeling really arty and have time to spare then play with the different textures. Whoever thought plastic bags could be so artistically beautiful!
I was making mini-beasts so I created some templates, here is a wing I designed for the butterfly which I overlaid onto the plastic and cut out. If you're not that brave just draw round your template and cut out. If you're feeling a bit stuck for a template you can get some from the internet to print off to get your creativity going......



And here's my butterfly. I hole punched some holes and got the children to pin together with some good old pipe cleaners and decorated with gems.


Tomorrow i'll upload some pictures from the tree and the workshop to show you the amazing creations that the children made. This is a really cheap and easy technique that could keep children entertained for ages, they can even make some Christmas tree decorations for their rooms.