DIY: Make A Giant Outdoor Waterbed
It seems that everyone loves to jump on the air bubbles that are caught under the sheets on the beds in the childhood. This has encouraged some people to come up with an idea called “leak-proof water blob”. The waterbed can keep kids entertained for hours and it’s definitely a good-looking toy for both adults and kids. The only problems that seem pretty universal with the duct tape method is that they take a long time to prepare – and they leak within minutes!
So below I will give you a tutorial that’s a little bit different. I used about 6-inches of duct tape on the entire thing. It has been sitting in our yard for 3 days now – with NO leaks, at all. And – it only took about 20 minutes to get ready!
You’ll need:
Painter’s plastic/plastic sheeting (affiliate link), *4 mil* – any size
Ironing board and iron
Parchment paper
Duct tape – optional, for sealing the hole for the hose
You’ll start out with a long piece of parchment paper. At first, you may want to use a piece that was as long as your ironing board – but it was actually much easier to cut the paper about 2-feet long. Fold it in half, length-wise and draw a line about 2-inches out from the fold. This will be your guide of how far into iron.
Begin with the edge of plastic opposite of its fold, starting at the corner. Open up your parchment and place your plastic inside, aligning it to the fold of the parchment.
Then, fold the parchment back over.
The next step is to use your hot iron to slowly melt the plastic together by running the iron across the line of your parchment. Do not let the iron touch the bare plastic – it will melt a hole in it, and will make a huge mess all over your iron!
Press firmly, but not too hard – because the plastic is hot, it will stretch. You don’t want to weaken the plastic by thinning it out with too much pressure. And you can always re-melt the plastic it did not completely seal!
Let it cool for a few seconds before removing the parchment. If you remove the parchment too early – you could risk stretching the plastic.
Continue to seal all of the edges, overlapping a few inches to make sure there are no holes. After sealing the end opposite of the fold, work from the sealed edge toward the fold. Everything will align perfectly!
Now, carefully cut a small slit in the folded end of the plastic, near the corner.
Place the hose in a few feet, and prop the corner up so that the water does not spill out while you fill your water blob.
It takes about 30 minutes to fill about 8-inches deep – and you can also add some food coloring about half way in. Totally not necessary, but watching the color swirl into the water is a great thing to do!
Seal off the hole with a piece of duct tape – or use your iron and parchment to melt the edge. Then let the kids go wild! It’s suggested that you spray a little water on top to splash on, and I bet that they will love it!
Create fun for the whole family…
Source: homemadetoast Via: Viral Nova