Process Videos:  Experimenting
with an Alternative Human-made Material

With thanks to the School of Fashion at Academy of Art University for generously making these videos available.

Additional detailed info sheets:

• Material Collection and Preparation (pdf)
• Techniques for Bike Tube Rubber (pdf)

The following four videos were created to support fashion upcycling design work from 2015-2017 in Mandana MacPherson’s Academy of Art online class, Sustainable and Ethical Design. Because inner tubes, although growing in reuse, are still not a commonly used material, demos on cutting and punching techniques, and methods for assembly, were included to give students an understanding of a variety of options. The videos outline steps for preparing waste inner tube rubber for reuse, along with tips and techniques for creating with this alternative “raw” material.

In our current material world there is no place to order reclaimed rubber, so in order to reuse this material, you as the designer/ creator are put into the position of recycler, raw materials extractor, as well as a materials processor and preparer. You must transform the original product into a source material for making new goods. Let’s take a look at a simplified process for preparing this type of rubber.