We're going to do that. We're going to begin with our parchment paper.
Parchment paper is a very special type of paper that has been treated with an acid and then has
a silicone substance put on the top of it that prevents it from burning at temperatures less than
400 degrees and also keeps things from sticking to it. So we're going to use this parchment paper to
keep the plastic from touching the ironing board or the towel as well as the sole plate of the
iron when it’s hot. So we're going to begin by putting down a layer of the parchment paper and
then we're going to start putting on our pieces of plastic. So as I'm looking through these pieces,
I might think, I wonder how this is going to melt. Will it take more time? Will the temperature
have to be hotter for some plastics than others? These are great questions that we
can come up with answers to once we begin using the heat from the iron. So I'm going to take some
pieces of our plastic and I’m going to layer them here on my parchment paper. I'm going to
take some of my bubble wrap and I might use my scissors to cut out just certain pieces.
And I can use this bubble wrap, if I wanted to I can even pop all of the bubbles first before I
fuse it. That sometimes is the really fun part. [Music]
And I can lay it on here and maybe I might pick another piece and I can layer them here.
So remember once we start to use the iron that we want to make sure that there is an
adult present with us that might be able to help us out. Sometimes I even need an adult to help
me when I’m doing my projects. So I'm going to put a layer, another layer of parchment paper
on top of the plastic. That is very important so that when we put the hot iron on here it doesn't
melt to the sole plate of the iron. So I'm going to grab the iron and I'm going to press and push
down on the plastic. We want to make sure we keep our hands away from the heat from that sole plate
and that the iron, that hot sole plate of the iron isn't touching any of the plastic itself.
So I'll just keep moving the iron around and pushing down. And then I'm going to rest it here
on the heel rest. Let the parchment cool just a little bit. It will be hot and warm.
And then after it cools we can peel the parchment paper off.
I always have really good questions too about why the parchment itself doesn't melt. And why does
it cool so fast but the plastic is still very warm? Those are great questions to ask. So now,
here is our piece of used plastic. So those three pieces that I have put together
are now combined. I notice that in some places maybe it didn’t stick the same
as others. I wonder why that happened. Some places the plastic didn't completely fuse
together. I wonder if it's because I didn't use enough heat or I didn't hold the iron on there for
long enough. So I'm going to put it back. I'm going to put it back onto my parchment paper,
put another layer of parchment on top, and then use the iron again to fuse. And then we'll see
if it fused together better. Let it cool for a moment. Peel off the parchment.
And now those pieces are connected together. Look how different the
bubble wrap looks now. It has a very different texture to it than it did before.
So what's really great about this is basically I created a textile, I’ve created almost like
a fabric that I can use in many different ways. So I might create something from this textile.