3D Print/Making
experiments, ongoing 2019 -
A close-up look at some of the waste materials produced during the process of 3D printing reveals small, complex structures worthy of investigation. Can these small pieces of waste plastic be transformed using ink and paper?
Below are some experiments combining this waste material with a traditional relief printing process. The pieces of 3D printed plastic are coated with ink and run through a printing press, leaving an impression and marks of it’s surface on wet paper.
While making these relief prints, I noticed that the plastic was soft enough that it would shift in places just slightly when under pressure, making each print unique.
These sets of relief prints then branched into an investigation of time and surface shifts, which are both inherent in 2D and 3D printing processes. I scanned sets of prints of individual objects and turned them into frame animations where 1 print = 1 frame, at 30 FPS. You can see more work from these investigations as they were shown in my Spactime project, here.
Below are some experiments combining this waste material with a traditional relief printing process. The pieces of 3D printed plastic are coated with ink and run through a printing press, leaving an impression and marks of it’s surface on wet paper.
While making these relief prints, I noticed that the plastic was soft enough that it would shift in places just slightly when under pressure, making each print unique.
These sets of relief prints then branched into an investigation of time and surface shifts, which are both inherent in 2D and 3D printing processes. I scanned sets of prints of individual objects and turned them into frame animations where 1 print = 1 frame, at 30 FPS. You can see more work from these investigations as they were shown in my Spactime project, here.
An example of a “raft”, a piece of support material that sits between the print and the print bed to help stabilize the 3D print as it builds. Support material like this peels off easily after the print is finished and is meant to be thrown away.
A close up of a raft’s surface (before inking).
An inked up plate.
Resulting print, 6 x 9”.
A test GIF of layered relief prints.
A test GIF of layered relief prints from a failed 3D print.
Relief print 9 x 12”.
Relief print, 9 x 12”.
Relief print, 11 x 14”.
GIF from a 3D printed plastic fragment.