Adventures in 3D printing...

Oooh, here’s my latest toy and obsession!  I’ve been pondering the possibilities of 3D printing for several years actually, but was intimidated by having to learn CAD programming, so kept putting it off.  I finally decided it was time to just make the leap, so waited for the newest 3D printer shootout issue of Make Magazine for the newest reviews, and decided on the Prusa MK3. That was actually the easy part, harder was figuring out what program(s) to use - I really wanted to be able to make free-form organic shapes, and I needed something with a fairly easy learning curve since I’m new to CAD.  I ended up with Sculptris by Pixologic which really feels to me like sculpting with clay, which makes me really, really happy.  I’m actually using a combination of three programs to get to my final printed shape, Sculptris to get the basic shape, then I import into Meshmixer to make the shape more printable (there are options in meshmixer that aren’t available in Sculptris), then finally I’m using the slicer program that comes with the Prusa to finalize the print before printing.  

The printer itself had a bit of a learning curve, I kept losing my prints at first from it coming off the print bed. Turns out a stick of Elmers Disappearing Purple glue stick is absolute magic!  Also just learning what I could get away with as far as how small an area I could have touching the print bed vs the volume of the rest of the piece. I seem to have it mostly figured out now, and most of my prints seem to be successful. 

My end goals for my 3D printed objects is to be able to print components that can be used in larger sculptures. I want to make printed oozers that I can wrap with wire and turn into a larger piece, and to be able to make multiples in varying sizes.  This seems to be working fairly well so far. 

I’ve also managed to solve a longstanding challenge that I have wanted to do for awhile now but hadn’t figured out a solution to. The idea of oil painting on an organic shape to use in my sculptures has been an obsession of mine, but until now finding the right object and surface has eluded me. Until my beloved Prusa!  Using a layer of plastic primer followed by a layer of oil painting gesso, I’m able to make the perfect surface to paint on, and my first experiment with it worked beautifully!  Waiting for the surface to dry so I can start wire wrapping and sculpting with them, so excited!

Anyhow, I’ll update with finished pieces shortly!!

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Props props props! Shrek Dragon time...

*Dragon has moved on to her new home in Petaluma, please contact www.cinnabartheater.org regarding rental inquiries, thanks!  I still have Pinnochio's nose available for sale, please  contact me for more info.

Oh wow, I have been neglecting this blog for a really long time, haven’t I!  Life has been really busy and while I’ve been making art, it hasn’t made it to my blog or website. I will try to change that moving forward, promise!  In the meantime, I finally updated my website with some of the work I’ve done in the past few years, do check it out at www.squishymatter.com.

So what else have I been up to?  Well, with two kids in musical theatre this year, I’ve been up to my eyeballs making props for Theatre in the Mountains. With the middle school play being Shrek this year, this has been a full time job the past few months, but I’m finished and wanted to share. 

The big one has been Dragon, which needed to be a life-sized dragon to be carried by 4 kids, with a moving mouth and wings. After plenty of online research on how others have done this, I settled on making the head from Worbla thermoplastic, and the body from a fabric covered flexible armature.  I’ll post some pics of the process here for anyone else lucky enough to have to make one of these (did anyone catch the sarcasm there?), or alternatively, for anyone not wanting a full time job in dragon construction, this beauty is available for rent (or possibly purchase). Contact www.cinnabartheater.org for info. 

Anyhow, here’s the quasi-tutorial, I took photos when I remembered, so apologies if a few are missing. 

For the head I used Worbla thermoplastic sheet - TAP plastics sells this, or it is available online. It cuts with scissors and you use a heat gun to melt it enough to mold it into shape. It sticks to itself, and is extremely lightweight so is great for props and costumes.  First I made a positive mold of the head shape out of oil based modeling clay, then I covered the clay with plastic wrap, and then covered that with duct tape. 

I used a sharpie to draw a pattern that would lay reasonably flat, then cut it with the exacto knife. I then used the resulting pattern to cut the Worbla sheet (allowing for a bit of overlap) and cut two copies of the Worbla for each so I could make a double layer for strength.  The duct tape then went back onto the clay form to keep the hot Worbla from sticking to the clay. One piece was heated at a time and molded onto the form, edges were reheated and smoothed together, and once the first layer was done I repeated it with the second layer and smoothed everything out before removing the clay. 

Once the clay was out, I made horns and fins and other extrusions and attached those, and also attached a short plastic pipe to fit a longer pipe in for carrying.  I also made a lower jaw using the same process. 

Teeth!!  The lower jaw is held on with a long threaded rod which acts like a hinge, and there is a spring attached inside the mouth so it bounces. A pull string was added later so the person in front can control the mouth. 

For the body I used a long plastic flexible drainage pipe for the spine, and lengths of irrigation tubing with connectors for ribs to give the body shape.  She got a pool noodle for a tail, with thick wire rings for smaller supports there. The head is attached to the body with a makeshift carabiner hinge so it is flexible, and lengths of pvc pipes for the poles. The wings are made from a large kite with Worbla hinges and held with springs so they move, also with pull strings to the pole.  Then I found a lovely and super stretchy shiny pink fabric for the body which was hand sewn to the armature.  And legs, can’t forget the legs.

Finally I primed and painted her head, painted her wings, and did all finishing touches including back fins, toenails, forked tongue, and gave her light up led eyes. 

Here are some photos of her in action, come see Shrek this weekend, Feb 9-11th, it’s going to be a great show!  

http://www.theatreinthemountains.org/2017-2018-box-office

And here are a few pictures and videos of the exploding bird and Pinnochio's nose:

Bird in her nest (she has a bracket under the nest that fits on top of a set piece):

Video of bird in action:

Pinnochio's nose (mechanism is battery operated):

Pinnochio's nose growing:

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