process and prototypes
Screen shot of sculpure development in fusion 360
Parts for assembly. Pla printed forms, electronic components
prototype shell development
paint palette. transparent oil paint.
alizren crimson, pyrolle orange, yellow gamboge, prussian blue, ultra marine blue
colour trials on pla
experiments with placing the forms for a corner location
repositioning the servo motors to the shell forms
colour trial for shell forms
arduino and breadboard placement for the sculpture
3d printing forms for "Bulb". They are surrounded by "tree" supports, beautiful fractal growths generated by the printing software.
programming bulb form
Pla support material and trial prints. Collected to be composted in an industrial composting facility.
pla needs consistent heat and aeration to decompose to its constituent elements.
movement for bulb form
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Modelling forms in fusion 360 and then printed.
Experiments in combining scans of organic objects and geometrically modelled forms.
Exploring print profiles (setting in the printing software) to manage transparent PLA.
The form on the left uses a modified profile. The one on the right, standard.
I working on design for elements for a sculpture to retract when a viewer comes within a specific proximity. It is inspired by seaworms and tubular hydroids. The delicate flower like structures retract into a protective tube when threatened.
I am working on a design that is print in place. The hinge mechanism is printed as one piece with the moving parts and base. The plan is for it to move smoothly in an out of the tube shaft and unfold smoothly.
.work in progress
Tube forms exploration.
The 1st is shaped on fusion.
The next is a 3d scan of a banksia seed head, managed and shaped in fusion 360
Continuing to experiment with transparent Pla. the variety used is a generic pla from ink station.
Retaining layer to top and bottom surfaces interferes with the sheen and transparency.
Using custom parameters in bambulab printer settings such as removing infill and top and bottom print layers I am getting a fragile but highly reflective transparent shell.
The bambu lab printer generates support structures and infill in response to the files I enter and the preset and adjustable parameters within the printers program.
I am exploring the forms and structures it generates, incorporating the idea of medium and partnership, a predictable unpredictability .
This delicate support structure within a transparent bubble form with a shell 2mm thick but with no infill is different to any I have seen so far. I stopped the printing before the form was finished to expose the structure.
The support structure generated for this print is as interesting as the form it was generated to support.
Printing. The complex, delicate layers. design and generated forms printed together.
Support structures generated for a domed form. Matt black PLA
The deposition mimics shells.
Generative fractal tree forms. Reducing in width narrowing and branching.
Playtronica is a midi board, it connects conductive elements to a computer based synthesizer. Touch completes a circuit and a sound file associated with that circuit is played.
The wires connecting the conductive elements form an electrical nervous system. touch and response.
Investigating conductive materials.
Copper wire is effective but finding something you want to touch is the challenge.
Stroking the forms with the conductive ground produces the best connection and is quite interesting in itself. playing with the form you hold.
I have started exploring in watercolour the patterns and forms of the organism I have been looking at. fungi, molds, simple cellular life. this is not an attempt at reproducing their likeness, but rather an investigation of shapes, colours and patterns.
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In these works I am using hot press saunders and waterford 640 gsm paper
and granulating watercolours. These are made of pigments, oxides and metal bases and inks. the pigment settles and inks keep moving in water slicks on the paper. Surface tension is them interrupted by drops of alcohol and salt crystals.
