Over the years I have experimented with a great deal of materials to create prints and I keep coming back to trash. I remember back in the 90s Tetrapak was held up as a future for sustainability and recyclability. At one point so many things were available in Tetrapak packaging.

And then it was revealed that it is actually really tough to recycle unless you have the RIGHT facilities. Of course they weren’t available in the US.

SIGH.

Tetrapak, and similar brands have several different variations. There is the traditional which is a layer of fiberboard with aluminum and plastic coating on the inside and a layer of plastic on the outside. There’s the newer version which has a layer of plastic on the outside, a layer of fiberboard, and a final thick layer of plastic on the inside.

The fiberboard is thick and pulpy and absorbent. This is useful for printmaking.

The plastic on the outside is thinner but very tough. Also useful for printmaking- the back of your plate is far easier to clean than other types of card.

The plastic and aluminum is nicely layered to be waterproof. As is the single thick plastic layer variety. Either can be easily scratched into and carved with simple tools like a needle, etching stylus, awl, or an exacto knife. Basically anything with a point or a sharp edge can be used on Tetrapak and similar surfaces.

A similar surface is a regular carton from frozen food or other packaging that has a plasticky coating. If it’s glossy, it can probably be printed. Check out this youtube video for ideas.

I’m working on having kids, middle school aged in particular do a layered tetrapak and other packaging project. They’ll do some sort of self portrait and hands holding something their “heart.”  We’re going deep on symbolism and meaning this year. They’ll get to use one color to pop off elements but their background will have to be black and white.

Here are some pictures of my plates and an example print.

The two pieces in the back are cartons- Wheat Thins and Melona ice cream bars. These have been manipulated with knives and scratchings and wood glue has been added to create texture. The plates have then been sealed with shellac to create a durable surface that will survive wiping and printing.

I used Cranfield Caligo safwash etching inks on these, and they are much more difficult to wipe out of the tube compared to Akua. I’ll need to modify them for students.

The colored pieces are more traditional Tetrapak, one a chicken brother container and the other a small boxed wine. (We use single serve boxed wine for cooking, since neither of us in this house drink.) I love the wrinkles and damages in the surfaces, but larger containers and if you are careful with disassembly  leave the surface pretty clean and smooth.

This print is pretty BIG- 22×30 inches, printed on Legion Stonehenge printing paper which was sprayed down and allowed to soak up the water. I’m not showing the backside of this print, but there is a GREAT emboss on here and the ink was really deeply pushing into the paper. The results are stunning. The paper will wrinkle horribly if not wet properly. A paper this thick (140lb/300gsm) needs to be quite wet for it to be flexible enough to get down into the various grooves. A lighter weight paper can be spritzed and not soaked. Some papers, like washi paper and other Japanese style papers don’t need soaking at all.

There is a spot where I didn’t get a good seal on some glued areas of the skull (near the hands) and the paper tore a bit. The pressure from the plate and the dampness of the ink adhered the glue to the paper. It wasn’t reactivated, but softened. I may attempt to use an acrylic varnish to see if that works well for the kids and if it might not adhere to the paper when printing.

I don’t usually work this large but so far I’m really enjoying it and the look of these pieces as they are layered and put together.