Making inflatables with thermo transfer vinyl
by Adriana Cabrera and Prof. Lily Chambers
Difficulty: Elementary
Duration: 20 min

Introduction:
Fusion interfacing is applied to textiles to transfer material or print. It is a practical and easy way to make inflatables anywhere, using transfer vinyl Thermo polyurethane (TPU) and baking paper. You can use the baking paper sandwiched between two layers of TPU. This paper can withstand high temperatures, creating air chambers after sealing the layers.
Prerequisite & Background topics
Before starting the tutorial, you can familiarise yourself with the following topics and terminology through previous tutorials and browse the resources linked under each item.
Introduction to inflatables
https://adrianacabrera.github.io/SoftRobotics/surface.html
aeroMorph - Heat-sealing Inflatable Shape-change Materials for Interaction Design
Printflatables: Printing Human-Scale, Functional and Dynamic Inflatable Objects
Materials & Equipment
Heat shrink tube 6-7 mm or cable ties
Ruler
Templates

Draw your shape on
the paper, using the examples
below, as a reference,
first on the baking paper to