We recently needed a sturdy envelope to carry some papers in our big satchel. Hmmm. What to use? FedEx envelopes are made of Tyvek but they have all that terrible writing on them. NOT.
What would happen if we turned one inside out so it became plain white, and then crumpled it to turn it more fabric-like?
(After all, Tyvek is a very cool, strong material. We’ve used an Issy Miyake Tyvek tote for YEARS and it’s only gotten more beautiful with age. As has our shower curtain from Grain Design.
So we tried it…
FedEx envelopes are free and we have a number of them stashed in our office…

We turned it inside out…

Then laid it flat, pulled off the tap that covers its sticky closure and folded the tab over to make a sturdier edge…

Then we balled up the envelope a number of times to crumple the heck out of it…(some beautiful sculpture, eh?)…

When we flattened it out, we had a well neutral, no-logos envelope to carry our notes….

Since Tyvek is writable, we could easily have embellished it…
Note: Tyvek is 100% High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), one of the most commonly recycled plastics and is PVC free.
I’m still waiting for a tyvek satchel/bag/backpack that I can easily make and then use with pride. Any ideas?
Funny you should ask. That is one of the first things I did. Didn’t find any that I like…all had serious design flaws. Have had been working on a backpack design for a while, and just looked into buying black Tyvek…Stay Tuned