Make a Glad-Bag pillow with only a soldering iron, baking paper, zip-lock bag, a pen, scissors, and a paper clip. Feel free to play the MacGuyver theme in the background.

Step 1: Get Your Stuff

Materials: Zip-lock bag, baking paper, soldering iron, scissors, paper clip, and a sharpie.

This is a simple adaptation of another instructable, that was a little confusing and I couldn't find it.

Step 1: Mark a line across the top of the zip-lock bag, about an inch under the lock. In the middle of the bag, put two vertical lines from the top of the bag to the line you just drew. They should be about 1/2 an inch apart, and should form a hot-water-bottle shaped neck.

Step 2: Solder the Bag

First, put down a layer of baking paper (wax paper) on the table. Next, put down the ziplock bag, and then place another sheet of baking paper on top of this. Now, turn on the soldering iron to warm it up for a few minutes. Don't let it get too hot, as it will burn through the paper and melt through the plastic. If the baking paper turn brown, the soldering iron is too hot.

To melt the zip-lock bag, simply drag the end of the soldering iron across the top of the baking paper, following the line drawn on the bag. Don't go too slowly, as this will melt and burn the bag. Also, don't go to fast or the zip-lock bag won't melt enough to form an air-tight seal.

Step 3: Cut Off Excess Plastic

Cool beans. Now you can slowly lift of the baking paper, and expose the bag. Now, cut off the zipper of the bag by tracing around the outside of the melt-lines with your scissors. Remember not to cut off the small 'tag', as this is what is used to inflate the pillow-de-la-gladbag. If you want, you can use a straw to inflate the bag. To seal of the bag fold the end of the tag over, and secure it with a paper clip. Now the entire bag should be completely air-tight, and a heck of a lot cheaper than any travel pillows you might find.

This 'project' was basically me just practicing my melting for when i tackle something a little larger (a blow up chair perhaps...) I'll leave it up to you to think of other things you could do... other things with 'blow up' in the name... ciao

10 Comments

ArtsyFartsyGirl

11 years ago on Introduction

Fear of soffocating??!!

biboNL

13 years ago on Step 3

blow-up animals?
a bunny made out of Glad-bags?

Modarius

15 years ago on Introduction

I tried this and my soldering iron melted right through the bag. any tips or am I just heating the iron up to much?

macrumpton

Would probably work with plastic tarps too for making larger inflatable structures. Use 3 mil+ for things that need durability.

compatta

17 years ago

personally, i like the idea (since it is a foundation for so many other potential ideas) anyways inform us all when you start making that inflatable couch (if, in the end, i build it first! but otherwise its a good idea for plastic which embeds air) anyways, would you suggest certain "patterns" we can all use so we can ensure that its a good fit? like, just say you did an "x" stitch to make it more stable. do you think thats possible? otherwise, good ideas.