Toasted bread and coffee filter papers are also the stuff of art. Aileen Nolan, from Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, took these materials, added some old love letters, a few ancient ration books and receipts, and arranged them in a box.
It is one of 17 boxes constructed by Waterford Institute of Technology art students as a project for Stage 2 of their National Diploma in Art course - a course which now includes multi-media and new technology to equip the students better for the modern market-place.
The exhibition, Boxedin, is hung in Bewley's Cafe in the Broad Street Centre, Waterford, and the subject matter is loosely derived from the cultural, social and historical background to the Bewley's tradition in Ireland.
"This is the art and environment element of their course," explains the lecturer, Gerard Casey. "We always put our work into a non-art area - we chose Bewley's because of its intimate Victorian nature."
The varied work presented in the boxes makes liberal use of traditional non-art ingredients, including tea, coffee beans and Asian memorabilia and artefacts.
Pamela Keane, from Clonroche, Co Wexford, expanded the theme by creating a corset-shaped box - "the Victorian box, or cage, in which women were confined". It opens out to reveal lengths of barbed wire and bicycle chains in place of internal organs.
Shane Kelly, from Kilmeaden, Co Waterford, explored the idea of corrosion and ageing. The contents of his compartmentalised box includes rusty tools and nails.
Lorraine Naughton, from Cork, created a "nostalgia box", with tiny varnished oriental figurines and charred pieces of manuscripts. Caitriona Doran, from Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny, made a pagoda-shaped box from fabric, containing eastern images.
Caitriona King, from Corofin, Co Clare, used an old clock casing and focused on the Quaker origins of Joshua Bewley, founder of the cafes. Kathleen Fitzpatrick, from New Ross, Co Wexford, used the decoupage technique and devised an exhibit on the theme of fossils.
Mature student Antoinette Power, Waterford, found some old photographs of one section of her family, scanned them into a computer and laser-printed the images on acetate. "I'm very sentimental about these people," she said. "Some of them are gone for over 100 years. The photos were decaying rapidly and I wanted to capture something of them."
The proprietor of the Waterford Bewley's, Nicky O'Brien, said there was much customer interest in the show. He is considering acquiring some of the pieces to have as permanent exhibits in the cafe.