Week 13: Compiling and Exploring
This week has been pretty alright. I’ve had midterms, and it’s been snowing a lot, so it’s been a bit of a topsy-turvy beginning of the week.
Wednesday I just cleaned up the studio, which was actually relaxing. The next day, I worked on a guide on how to 3D print on InDesign then, sure enough, I accidentally deleted it. I was just hanging out, making it lazily, so it’s not too bad a loss, but certainly frustrating nonetheless.
Today (Friday) has been a pretty good day, though. All of the classes’ projects are done because reading break starts this weekend, so the studio and lab have been chill. My boss and I hung out a bit, drinking tea and talkin’. We got on the topic of my research (What an absolute surprise! Who would think we’d talk about that?!). I put into words how I wanted to try researching new things before the research had to come to an end (sooner rather than later :’( ). We both agreed that my focus at this point should be on leaving behind guides etc. to inform future students on the process, make it easier, the like. I also recalled some of the other ventures I was curious about, so I figured now was a good time to jump into them head-first. I found a dome on Thingverse and got to printing that. I figured I’d make two of them, put a weight inside, then attach them together. That way, I can test my “kinetic printmaking” idea.
I also recalled my idea to make a block to solely add texture to a digital image (or printed surface etc, but the plan was for it to create embossing and debossing). That really won’t be difficult, so I’m going to try to work on that while the dome prints.
Update: The dome is a success, the second dome is about 25 minutes from being printed as of now. I was able to create a block that’s the size of the photo when the paper is soaked in water (the water helps the paper become more malleable against a block). I was also able to upload my 2D image into Blender, which actually takes a bit of figuring out, as 3D software isn’t crazy about 2D images. This has been relatively unspoken of in my blog, but people who make youtube videos about how to use software? The most wonderful people of all. I have watched SO many youtube videos throughout all of my research. I’ve realized that it would be cute to add a slide in my MURC presentation showing all of the youtube videos in my history related to Blender, AutoCAD, etc. I’m really happy with how things are at the moment, though, and all that I have to do is figure out how to create paths like in photoshop, extrude them, then we have a block ready to print! I imagine that it’ll be done by reading week (I’m working over reading week, and I suspect the lab will be quiet, so some concetrated time spent on the block will definitely facilitate getting this done). Exciting!
