Project 4 and Thesis Done!

Honestly, this was a long and arduous process. Mainly how to go about making these figures and masks, especially with their size. After a bunch of failed prints and printer malfunction, with research and everything else on the side this project is done! I'll leave some process pictures and the final products below.

Project 4 Alternative Kinda Relating to the actual Theme

So, instead of following exactly the theme on "bodies", I'm utilizing this project to work on several pieces for my IDS undergraduate thesis. My thesis is "The Resurfacing of Monsters in Japanese Media", I'm using 3D printing as an exploration of the metaphorical version of resurfacing within my thesis. As one form of resurfacing is the my reinterpretation of what is conceptually two-dimensional and referencing off of existing images to create a three-dimensional form. At the same time, I'm using the plastic prints to make toy-like figures and masks which follow a form of mascotization, which is a type of resurfacing.

Project 3 Finished Product

Here's an image of the final piece, I just delayed in printing it due to my thesis project which is for the fourth  project which kinda meshes with the theme of "bodies", but that will be in a separate post.

Project 3

Whoops, I actually forgot to write about this one. Where we're reprocessing old techniques or subjects into 3D printing. So for this I decided to do Japanese masks, as I always found them interesting, again with my Asian background. However, I also decided to work this somehow to include it within my thesis for the IDS major.

Anyways, for the mini mask as the printer is incapable of printing a large sized version, I chose the Tengu, as it was also within my thesis.

Model thumbnail

Printed and primed.

It's actually finished but I don't have a finished picture right now. I will post one later.

Cookie Cutter update

So after looking up a while on google for a decent recipe that works with cookie cutters and impressions, I came across one that worked well with decent results for my cookies, and they tasted good.

Cutting out the shapes

I had to go to one of my friends's house to make these, as I didn't have an oven and baking pans as well as mixing bowls. Perks of having a friend in the Food Science major. We actually doubled the recipe ingredients cause we were worried that there wouldn't be enough, but it was a lot. Anyways, these turned out great in my opinion as they didn't expand too much the other way.

Example of a finished cookie.

Yum.

Project 2 Complete!

Here's the final product of my second project with the Koi and Cherry Blossoms. The one thing I didn't like was the cracks that appeared in the acrylic, but I think that was me not being careful enough. Not sure if it was temperature that caused it or just holding too tight?

The camera doesn't show all the detail, but here it is.

Changes I would possible would be making a stand for it, or putting the reflective tape on the edges to trap the light inside better.

Project 2 Start!

So for this project our main tools are the laser cutter and/or penplotter. Now I've used the laser cutter several times before on some side acrylic things, but I'm mainly staying away from using wood and other flammable materials for 2 reasons.

1. Easy to catch fire(duh)
2. I don't want to damage the lens

Anyways, I've been always fascinated with those light fixtures that are clear sheets of plastic/glass that have engravings in them and light running through it, so I figured that I'd use that for my main material of my project. The other part was what did I want to have engraved(not too sure I want to cut). As of lately, I've been interested in chinese(biased?) inkwash paintings and vector-stylization, so what better way than combining both to make an engraving?

So here's the preliminary sketch with the pencil brush in PS5.

Very simple and sketchy.

Here's the solids filled in to be sent to Illustrator.

The materials are going to be slightly expensive, but that was a given. I'll be using a light-diffusing clear acrylic and a blue LED strip to light up the plastic. I'll put inprogress pictures once I get the materials and start engraving.