A post about my disappointing hunt for different plastic sheets.
Plastic Fantastic
I might not be the most experienced programmer or electronics person. But plastic? I am a stealth ninja black belt of plastic. Making things out of plastic sheets is one of my hidden talents. I’ve made quite a few dresses out of plastic over the years and, when I first moved to New York, I co-created an avant garde theatrical piece that heavily featured plastic.
Yeeeaaah. So that really happened.
Through Thick and Thin
There are a few different ways that I want to use plastic as a decorative element in the fascinator: “flowers” for visual interest, thicker translucent parts to add structure and diffuse the light from the NeoPixels, and thinner plastic to make “feathers.” Based on these needs and prior experience, I wanted to get at least three different kinds of plastic. And by “plastic” I mean drop cloths.
Le Grande Plastic Tour
I don’t know who came up with the idea of making crazy-thin plastic sheets for painting drop cloths, but they’re one of my favorite cheap materials (even if they are environmentally questionable). I began my hunt at Home Depot remembering that I’d liked their selection when I needed plastic for a project a few years ago. Upon first look, I assumed that the 23rd Street Home Depot had been wiped out by a band of marauding painters because their selection sucked. But by the fifth hardware store I visited, I was utterly disheartened by the dearth of variety. What was once a thriving industrial ecosystem teeming with plastic drop cloths of all shapes and sizes has, in just a few short years, been reduced to just two or three brands who supply essentially the same product. After a few hours of hunting, I ended up with a $2 sheet of .7 mil.
But no fear! I can still improvise something beautiful even when working with a limited plastic palette. More to come.
