Three recycled papers were made using waste printed packaging and leaflets. The three colours most commonly found in the packaging materials were separated and used to create the three paper colours - grey, white and brown. The paper colours and the flecks of other colours introduced suggested three materials - concrete, sand and wood. Photographs were taken of these materials - textured concrete of the Hunterian at Glasgow Uni, sand on Calgary Beach, Mull and bark from a tree in Pollok Park (plus a microscopic image of wood fibre). From these images, with the help of a little scripting, embossing plates and linocuts were made to create a set of three 3D prints.

The creation of the prints was an exercise in adding value to a readily available domestic waste product - printed paper and card. A process of separating the coloured print from the base paper/card was developed and the paper and card then categorised by colour. This led to the creation of three distinct, heavily textured handmade papers which revealed their past through the flecks of colour (and often visible branding) apparent in the final paper. Scripting using the visual programming language Grasshopper, which is used within 3D modelling software Grasshopper, allowed the development of methods which were used to translate input images into 3D and 2D forms which were embossed and printed on the handmade paper. This adds layers
of meaning and value to a material which had previously been considered waste.

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