Fun with Vacuforming
posted by Virginia
If you’ve ever used a vacuformer, you know how inspiring it is to see hot sheets of plastic lower onto and adhere around every corner of a mold. Vacuforming plastic around molds is a super-common way of mass-producing all kinds of products.
I recently had access to one of these fun machines and started thinking about less conventional ways of using them. After talking with other vacuforming enthusiasts, I found out that my ideas weren’t necessarily so original, nonetheless they offer a starting point for discussion.
1. underwear:
Vac-u-forming styrene over any kinds of textured clothing (in this case, infant underwear) creates a monochrome 3D shadow that’s appealing to look at and touch. Could be a good wall-hanging, wall covering, other uses…
2.Entrapment
Translucent plastic is vac-u-formed over just about anything you want, and its curves encase the item. It’s important that whatever you entrap is porous, so that it doesn’t impede the vacuum function. Here, I entrapped some of those clear plastic balls that are often used as retro oversized “grapes”. The plan is to remove the foam squares behind, which were there simply to give the plastic a square base, and mount the entrapped balls on right-angled pieces of wood, as bookends.
3.Small stools
I made a series of small outdoor stools that were really an excuse to play with smooth organic shapes, by vac-u-forming styrene sheets over urethane foam molds. My aim was to make the stools uncomfortably small, yet applying pressure to the sitter’s rear in comfortable places. This stool is 8.5 inches at its widest, which gives you and idea of its size. The foam-sculpting and vac-u-covering made for an easy way to test the ergonomics; the stools are strong and stable.
Note: The vac-u-former I used was a DIY creation. You can build your own. You’ll need a workshop, instructions, and a couple grand in materials. There’s some good info about how to make them at this site:
http://www.tk560.com/vactable4.html