Hybrid Materialities

Starting with hybrid materialities, I was really interested in the idea of combining old and new techniques to create something a bit different. I explored the idea of laser cutting a surface of wood onto which I could then embroider patterns. I looked at making an object, originally starting off with the idea of a lampshade and then moving onto more of a plant pot, where I could combine a number of embroidered wooden panels.

I created two plant pots as shown. The first with finger joints was done by adding one at a time as I stitched along the top end and then the bottom, to then fill it with a simple pattern or rings around it or red and white. Using the stitches along with the finger joints when fitted correctly, ended up creating a surprisingly strong piece.

The second pot was done by individually embroidering a pattern on each panel to then be joined at the end. Due to an error, only seven panels of the octagon were printed, so I decided to make a feature oft the missing one by adding a touch of the more traditional with a more complex embroidery with hand drilled holes. Although initially meant to be glued together, the panels were again stitched to one another with a contrasting purple to make a feature of the joints.Again, the design proved to be much sturdier than initially expected, demonstrating the value of more traditional craft methods in combination with new techniques.

Scaffolding glitches

Inspired by the pots done previously, I wanted to make some cacti. This project looked at use of Gcode, support structures and glitches, where I was inspired by the work of Emerging Objects and their Gcode.clay where they use a series of controlled errors to create intricate interesting forms.

I wanted to print a cactus and its spikes with support and without, so the intention would be to have the unsupported spikes droop and create something new.

Unfortunately as can be seen the spikes were designed far too short, so support structure wasn’t actually needed, however an error occurred anyway with the second print, leading it to be unfinished with a mess of extruded filament on top – an error very akin to a cactus with a flower on top. However, I tried another design which required more scaffolding, with the succulent as shown.

Parametric design

Using computational design in order to create design families by altering dimensions through a set of generative parameters. Again carrying on the theme explored so far, I looked at creating a base cactus that could be altered to create a family of them – squatter, thinner, spikier, longer spikes, etc. Allowing a decorative series to be created from a single initial setup.

Using Solidworks and design tables, I initially tried to alter dimensions of a complex cactus design, however the resulting iterations didn’t show much change in the design. So I took it back to basics by working with lofted rectilinear shapes and by applying alterations to certain features at a time I gained a far better understanding of how the design tables worked. Slowly, through experimentation I moved back to creating cacti, the end result being quite successful, albeit without any thorns.

Final Artifact

The three different explorations of material and technique came together very well in the end. Combining the previously created elements, the final piece was a potted cactus garden.

Time as a prison

by Yifu Liu

Taking this design as the final part of the project, I wanted to use all I have learned from last 3 weeks. It is really inspired by the “Collide”, using the support as a metaphor to express time or space travel.

From the massive sketches, I have been through a deep thinking about the relationship between time and different cultures. In general, I want to express the conflict between the vulnerability of time and the eternity of time. Time is so fragile that goes really quick and you can never stay in the moment forever. On the other hand, time is like a prison where everyone is born inside the frame of time and nobody can escape. Once I made my point clear to myself, I started to think how to use support or other material to express these 2 qualities of time. Is it wire? Is it transparent Acrylic? In the end, I decided to use a floating watch and a special support structure to produce a metaphor of prison.

In Cura, I tried all the support structure and decided to use Lines, which could be a fairly risky decision. Not all the surface is getting the proper support. As a result, there are a lot of glitches happened while printing, like cirrus dropping down both inside and outside, which I think it’s beautiful. However, I have to clean the inside, because there is no relationship between these glitches with the context. Surprisingly, the holding element was gone during the printing, so I have to print a separate piece and use super glue to glue it.

Finally, I spray painted it in Chrome, because it was the ideal colour that I can find in the ECA shop. The colour makes the piece look like a piece of metal, which represents the long-lasting and strong. In contrast, the shape looked thin and breakable. The contrast matches the conflict that I mentioned.It could become a working design if I put more effort in it later on, and I would like it to finish a single rotation in years, because the technology can help us track the time precisely, no point making another functional watch. I think people feel something when they notice the clock actually travelled some distance after years.

Inspired by the low poly glitch in the object below (cocktail base), I decided to try to explore this angular aesthetic more within the context of digital making. At the same time I was also interested in trying 3d scanning. Therefore, for my final artifact I made a low poly mask of my actual face.

After scanning my face I processed the 3d information on Skanect, and meticulously carved away at the model in 3ds Max until only what I wanted was left. I purposely made the mask unsymmetrical both as a practical consideration (parts of the scan were very rough) and as a  A E S T H E T I C  choice.

Then I fired up Meshmixer where I did some digital sculpting just to remove glitches like large pits or high bumps (especially around the edges), and then decimated the model (turn into low poly). I played around with the decimation settings for a bit before I got the size and distribution of the polygons just right. I made sure that the polygons were large enough to clearly show the faceted aesthetic while keeping just enough resolution to still be able to recognized the face on the mask as my own. To get it to actually 3d print I had to give the mask volume, so I took it over to Rhino and 3d offset a 2mm thickness.

I then printed it on an Ultimaker 2+. I would have rather done it on a 3 that way I could simply dissolve away the support structure instead of painstakingly chipping away at it piece by piece by a chisel. Speaking of support structures, the support structure for the mask produced some very interesting coral-like web structures. From what I can tell this is caused by the extruder scrapping by the support as it moves between them, slowly building them up like stalagmites in a cave. This may be attributed to the fact that in a bid to speed up the 2 day print time I dialed down the support density to 10% and a ‘line’ in fill pattern which created these large gaps for the plastic coral to develop.

Finally here is the final thing in all its glory and splendor. Originally I wanted to cut holes for the eyes and possibly paint it, but seeing it now I think it is perfect as it is. The low poly aesthetic works to convey both a sense futuristic abstraction and bone chilling eeriness, making it a great death mask.

All in all this project has tough me a lot about technology, experimenting and just having fun with making. which unfortunately for University projects are not always the case. I can use the skills and experience from this to make even cooler and wackier things.

Chris Chong signing out.