In the lab on Thursday our group made a coin purse each. The handles of the bags were cut as well as the bottom to create uniform layers. Maxim used the press and faced some issues with it, so he decided to keep the paper to avoid destroying the plastic. At the beginning we assumed that issue was the temperature was set much higher than 120. To avoid that, Kevin and I did ours with an iron but we also faced the same issue although it was set as 120 degrees on the wool setting. We also had bubbles in ours due to the baking sheet not being flat while ironing which could have been prevented with the press. This led us to conclude that the issue is the quality of the baking sheet. We were advised to used fabric instead but it was too late by then since we were all done with that step. So we moved on and cut the plastic by using the shape provided, folded it, and pocked holes in it to place the buttons. That’s where we faced our second problem in aligning the male and female buttons and figuring out where they are supposed be placed. With some help from Hilina, Maxim and Kevin started using the snap pliers while I was cutting the shape out. Once we all were done we closed our purses and were very excited to use them !
Here are some photos for documentation:
Fig 1. Cutting the plastic bags
Fig2. Using the press to fuse the bags
Fig 3. Using the iron to fuse the plastic
Fig 4. Fused plastic after using the press
Fig 5. Baking sheet issue
Fig 6. Buttons placed before using the plier
Fig 7. Maxim summoning all his strength to install the buttons
Fig 8. FINAL PRODUCT!
I’ll try to get a different baking paper.