For my Mycelium Molding project, I wanted to address the issue of unsustainable plastic use in packaging that leads to pollution. In the growing online retail industry today where shipping is widespread, insulation for packaging is often made of unsustainable, non-biodegradable materials like bubble wrap and styrofoam that end up in landfills for hundreds of years, and polluting the environment as solid and air waste. As mycelium is a solid styrofoam-like material when prepared correctly, so I wanted to attempt making my own mycelium packaging to address the aforementioned issue.
I collected these images as reference and inspiration. Some feature full mycelium packaging, in place of something like styrofoam, while the last displays a mycelium sheet that I thought could be inserted into a package in the place of something like bubble wrap.
For my project specifically, I wanted to mimic the styrofoam replacements shown in the first few images. I designed a simple box that could fit inside a cardboard package, and be made from a simple and common mold.
The mycelium itself had been growing in its specially formed bag for several days, and from the outside, it appeared ready to mold and bake.
The white surrounding the bag made it appear as though the mycelium had grown consistently throughout its substrate. Therefore, I selected my mold, a small, reusable plastic bin.
From there, I began to dig into the mycelium and first coat the bottom of the bin.
The material seemed much looser than it looked, but I figured this was something that must be fixed during baking and just pressed it as much as possible, continuing to build until the small box with four walls was formed.
I pressed the material several times using flat cards and heavy weight to ensure it was compact as possible, to optimize the baking process and smooth the material. I baked it as instructed, still in the mold, and then prepared it to be removed from its mold by placing it in a larger bin, as I expected a bit of fallout.
As I began to remove the box from the mold, however, the material collapsed, and only a few chunks of the original box remained.
The largest salvageable chunk of the material was one of the edges of the box, which I attempted to salvage by pressing into a sheet. However, since the mycelium had been baked, it was hardened and this proved to be in vain. The chunk that was salvaged, however, had a firm yet malleable consistency that could still have been used for packaging material. Had the mycelium grown more extensively through the substrate, I firmly believe the full box would have been both intact and a success.
This unsuccessful mess of substrate, however, did not prove completely useless as it did spur another idea: this substrate itself with minor amounts of mycelium spread throughout could prove an easy and biodegradable alternative to package fillers like packing peanuts. Although this packaging did not turn out how I intended, it can still be used functionally.
