An 11-year-old seasonal resident of Tulameen has taken a science project and made himself very comfy.
Peyton Slind, who lives in Cloverdale, created a hammock out of approximately 900 plastic bags.
“It’s surprisingly comfortable,” said Slind in an interview with The Spotlight.
“I’m going to enjoy it until it splits in half.”
Slind attends Don Christian Elementary and was assigned the task, along with his classmates, of building something out of completely recycled materials.
“We were pretty much given the idea that we couldn’t use anything bought. It all had to be junk from the recycling bin, garbage and scrappy things.”
After watching a couple of YouTube videos with his parents Jared and Kimberley, Peyton set about building a loom using discarded lumber and a deconstructed wine rack.
He then wove the bags into a mat about five feet long, doing most of the work at the family’s Tulameen cabin, and collecting bags from friends and neighbours who responded to Facebook posts.
“People like the idea of recycled material products. It’s really cool that we can use plastic bags as a material…and not have them going into the landfill and rotting.”
The project took about three weeks to complete, and it has yet to be graded.
Peyton said his teacher “just wanted us to learn that junk could be used for something and I think he wanted us to learn to recycle and persevere.”
While Peyton looks forward to relaxing in his hammock over the summer, he has big plans for the future and won’t be spending all of his time swaying in the shade.
“I want to be a air space engineer that runs rocket companies. I want to start as a fighter pilot. Next year, I can go to air cadets and work my way up from there. I am very ambitious.”
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