Recycling
Plastic: PLOPE-MAKING
Making Time: 3 hours
Age Group: 12-100
Project Designer: Lizzie Hurst
Did you know that plastic bags were banned in NYC on March 1st? They pollute the environment and are bad for the health of the fish in our waterways!
But with a few simple techniques, you can repurpose plastic bags to make lots of interesting projects - including your own PLOPE (plastic rope)
Follow these steps to make PLARN out of plastic using only tools and materials that you already have at home! THEN, learn how to make tools from scratch to weave your plarn into super strong rope or something else of your own invention!
Project
Overview:
Prepare
Your Workspace:
Set up your work space. Clear a surface on a table top where you can work.
Make sure to ask other people who are using the space if it’s OK for you to set up there!
Make sure there’s a broom and dustpan nearby in case you make a mess.
Gather Supplies:
Gather MORE Supplies:
Gather MORE Supplies:
Gather MORE Supplies:
or
PART 1:
MAKING YOUR PLARN*!
*Plarn: yarn made out of plastic
PART 1 Step 1:
Lay a plastic bag on the table and flatten it with your hands.
Grab your scissors and cut off the bottom and top of the bag so you only have a big plastic loop left (the middle).
PART 1 Step 2:
Next, lay your two stacks of books (or other large flat objects) next to each other...
...and create a “bridge” between them using the broomstick.
PART 1 Step 3:
Put the broomstick through the loop in the plastic bag you just cut so it looks like this!
PART 1 Step 4:
Make a short diagonal cut into your bag, as shown. Stop cutting when you are about 1.5” in from the edge.
1.5” is about the width of the top of your thumb!
1.5”
PART 1 Step 5:
Your goal is to turn the bag into one long strip.
Cut in a straight line 1.5” along the edge - while pulling the plastic bag towards you.
You will see that you are cutting in a spiral.
Try to keep an even 1.5” strip as you cut around and around.
PART 1 Step 6:
To the end, cut diagonally to the edge, just like you did at the beginning.
You should now have one very long piece of plarn!
Repeat this same process with EACH of your plastic bags until you have the amount of plarn that you want!
PART 1 Step 7:
Tie the ends of your strips together so that you have one long piece.
Find a way to store the plarn neatly. You could wrap it around something (like an empty egg carton!) or roll it into a ball.
PART 2:
SPINNING YOUR PLARN*!
*Plarn: yarn made out of plastic
PART 2 Step 1:
Gather supplies to build your spindle.
A spindle is the tool traditionally used to spin yarn out of wool for knitting sweaters. (They usually aren’t made out of trash, though!)
You’ll need a chopstick or pencil, tape, some coins, a paper clip, and either an unwanted CD or some cardboard and scissors.
PARTS OF A SPINDLE:
WHORL: is the weighted wheel that helps a spindle spin faster - for this project you will make this from a cd or cardboard circles you cut yourself.
SHAFT: is the central axle of the spindle - you can make this with a pencil, chopstick, or any straight thin object.
HOOK: Catches the plarn so it can twist - you will make this with a paperclip
WHORL
SHAFT
HOOK
The idea behind a spindle is that when you spin it with your hands, it twists the yarn (or plarn, in our case) for you.
The heavier the spindle, the faster and easier it is to spin. That’s why the material list includes coins - I taped quarters to the bottom of my spindle to make it heavier!
If you don’t have the materials to make a spindle, you can always just twist it with your fingers, find another creative way to spin it - or not spin it at all.
Spun plarn looks kind of like this:
If you are not building a spindle, skip ahead to
PART 3 - HOW TO WEAVE ROPE
PART 2 Step 2:
If you have an old CD or DVD skip ahead to Part 2 Step 5 - Making a shaft and hook.
If you can’t find an old CD or DVD, trace something round onto cardboard twice and cut out two circles! A plate or a mug could work!
Do your best to find the center of the circle. If possible, fold the circle in half both ways to make an X. The X is the center of your circle.
MAKING A WHORL:
PART 2 Step 3:
Trace your chopstick or pencil at the center of your whorls
Cut out the holes.
You may have to fold the cardboard in half to cut more easily.
PART 2 Step 4:
Having two circles will make the spindle much stronger.
Place one of your circles on top of the other, so that the X you drew on them match the picture to the right.
Tape, glue, or staple them together!
PART 2 Step 5:
MAKING A SHAFT AND HOOK
Take your paper clip and straighten all of it out except for one little hook on the top. It should look like this!
Then, tape the hook to the top of the chopstick.
PART 2 Step 6:
If possible, you’ll want to cut the strip of cardboard with the corrugation going in this direction because it will bend much easier!
Cut a little strip of cardboard - it should be about 1” wide and a few inches long (If it’s too long, you can always trim it later). But before you cut, pay attention to the corrugation of the cardboard!
1”
PART 2 Step 7:
Tape the cardboard strip to the middle of the chopstick/pencil, and tightly wrap it until it will fit snugly into the middle of the CD-Whorl. When it fits snuggly, tape it down.
(If you made your whorl out of cardboard you may not need this step)
Make sure it fits well! Tape it!
Then, squeeze the chopstick into the middle of the CD or cardboard circle. It should be snug! Tape it in place to be sure it doesn’t move!
PART 2 Step 8:
In order to make the spindle heavier, I taped eight quarters to the bottom of the whorl.
It doesn’t matter if they’re on the top or the bottom, but they should be evenly spaced all the way around so the spindle isn’t heavier on one side than it is on the other!
PART 2 Step 9:
Start by tying the end of the plarn to the bottom of the spindle.
Then run the plarn through the hook at the top of the spindle.
THREAD YOUR SPINDLE
Then, spin! Here’s what that looks like.
(Make sure to spin in a consistent direction! I went clockwise!)
PART 2 Step 10:
Once the plarn seems twisted enough, unhook it and wrap around the bottom of the spindle shaft a couple of times. Then, continue spinning.
Repeat until you’ve spun the entire length….
PART 2 Step 11:
When you’re done, unwrap the plarn from the spindle and store it - I wrapped mine around some cardboard scrap.
I cut a little notch in the cardboard to help hold my plarn in place.
PART 3:
How to weave rope (aka Plope)!
Or if you know how to braid, crochet, knit (or do something else cool with plarn), you’re totally welcome to do that instead!
PART 3 Step 1:
First, you’ll need to make your loom! A loom is tool that is used for weaving. It’s much simpler than building a spindle…
Cut a cardboard square that is about 4” x 4”. (If you don’t have a ruler, that’s about the distance between the tip of your pinky and your thumb when you stretch out your hand).
PART 3 Step 2:
Cut off each corner of the square!
You should have an eight sided shape that looks like this.
PART 3 Step 3:
Draw a little line about 1” going into each side of the octagon. Cut where you made the lines with scissors
PART 3 Step 4
Then, cut little triangles into each of the sides of the octagon but don’t cut all the way into the line you just made.
The triangles should be about ½” or so.
PART 3 Step 5:
The final step is to poke or cut a hole in the center of the cardboard. It doesn’t have to be perfectly centered.
That’s it, you are
ready to weave!
PART 3 Step 6:
Pick out seven even strands of plarn. They should all be about the same length. The longer, the better!
Hold them all together and tie a knot at the very end.
PREPARE YOUR PLARN
Pull the knot at the top of your plarn through the hole in the center of the cardboard, and tuck one strand of plarn into each notch on the cardboard - there are eight notches in total, so there should be one empty!
PART 3 Step 7:
The next step is to weave!
The pattern is simple and repeats forever - until you decide you’re finished.
Here’s how it works.
Notice that one empty notch on the cardboard? Count three strands of plarn over from it, and move that third strand into the empty notch. Count three strands more, and repeat. And repeat….
WATCH GIF VERY CAREFULLY FOR A WHILE AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND HOW TO WEAVE
PART 3 Step 8
PART 3 Step 9
The weave will start to build up pretty quickly. Every few rotations, just stop briefly and pull the rope a little further through the hole in the center!
WATCH GIF VERY CAREFULLY FOR A WHILE AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND HOW TO PULL YOUR WOVEN PLOPE THROUGH YOUR LOOM
Once the rope is as long as you want it to be (or when you run out of plarn), just pull it out of the cardboard loom and tie a knot at the end!
PART 3 Step 10
GOOD JOB
YOU MADE �PLOPE
What will you do with your plope?
Make a jump rope! Make shoelaces out of it! Test its strength on incredibly heavy objects! Make jewelry! A keychain! Give it to someone special! Put plom ploms on the end of it! Take a photo to share with us!
PLEASE SHARE WHAT YOU MADE:
#beamanywhere