Texture of the Week: Plastic Packaging

Does it feel like there is a lot of unnecessary waste in product packaging? My exploration of textures often comes from my desire to repurpose these items. 

Recently, I purchased a larger quantity of glue sticks online for an upcoming workshop. I just needed basic glue sticks that would do the job and were affordable, I wasn't necessarily looking for texture tools.

But as I was unpacking the bundle of 24 Scotch brand glue sticks, I discovered they were being held together with a rather interesting piece of plastic that created two lines of perfectly arranged circles. 

While I was intrigued to see what kind of marks I could make, I'm also curious why a company would have a piece of plastic made for this purpose, since it seems a basic cardboard/chipboard box could handle the job and also avoid shrink wrap....but I digress.

I wasn't going to let this piece of plastic go to waste in my studio, so here are some prints to use as collage paper.

I tried both sides of the plastic, using it to create impressions by removing paint and then stamping marks in empty areas of the gel plate.

My recent work involves a lot of geometric shapes and "perfect" circles, so this found tool is going straight in my bin of "current textures". 

Unfortunately, I'm probably one of very few people purchasing these glue sticks and reusing it in this way, but I guess that's one less in the landfill. Happy gel printing.