inkuku by Ryan Frank
Inkuku is a chair made entirely from plastic shopping bags combining traditional craft techniques and recycled material. The inspiration for the design has been taken from a South African crafted chicken ornament.
South African crafted chicken ornament
These are what probably inspired Ryan Frank: “recycled, fair trade plastic bag chicken figurine is handcrafted by disadvantaged crafters in the townships near Cape Town, South Africa.”
Kate Ward’s Re-Find Handbags. She writes: “Plastic bags are often disregarded, seen as disposable throw-away items in our modern day society which end up in landfill or polluting the landscape. Yet they are often made in beautiful and bright colours. Kate has chosen to celebrate the plastic bag by lovingly hand-knitting and stitching the discarded bags, creating contemporary art works as well as functional handbags.”
The flowers were made out of old shopping bags, then attached some to solar panels with little motors. Those flowers will spin when the sun hits them, and the display will be interactive because passersby will be able to stop the spinning by blocking the light.
Inga use cheaper quality supermarket bags for knitting and crochet.
This doesn’t look like plastic bag to me at all.
The lightweight boots are made from multiple layers of the plastic fused together for strength and yet provide flexibility. For walking comfort, the interior of the footwear is lined with quilted cotton fabric.
Crafters says: “I just improvised the pattern, but I think they came out all right! I have *no* idea how useful they will actually be as shoes (or more like sandal-slippers, really) but I’ll see how they hold up outside. They seem fairly sturdy, though I’m really wondering if they’ll melt on hot pavement.” And she also provided detail instruction of how to make that shoes…
Artist Virgina Fleck takes re-use to a whole other level by creating these colorful mandalas from discarded plastic bags.
April’s recycled art rabbit is made from repurposed plastic Wonderbread bags by Ruby Re-Usable
This is Cathy Kasdan’s thesis project at Kent State University Textile Department. She writes:
“The dress is all hand knit from grocery bags that were the result of actual trips to the grocery store. As soon as I told people I could use their old bags for a project they brought them in by the bag full, I received thousands! The plastic grocery bag came about in the 1950′s along with futuristic optimisim about America, so I made a “typical” 1950′s ensemble complete with pillbox hat and purse, not pictured.”
Found detail instruction of how to make this lovely plastic Christmas Stocking on designer’s page above.
Created from old bangles found in thrift stores and used plastic bags by artist, Stephanie Huffaker. This funky textured look is created from wound up plastic bags. How original with a result that is oh so lovely …and eco-friendly, too!
San Diego artist, Emily Grace, her designs are made from heat fused plastic which is then hand-stitched to wire and then combined with sterling silver chain and occasionally some vintage beads. The pieces are soft and pliable and can be left lying flat or gently sculpted into a more three dimensional shape for special occasions or the perfect neckline.
