Art Project #53: 3-D Printing

Well, I finally got around to blogging about the day we learned how our library's 3-D printer works.  

As part of our 100 Days of Art Challenge I have been trying to introduce my boys to new genres and areas of art.  I was thrilled when I realized we could use our library's 3-D printer for a lesson in combining art and technology.  



We had such a great time taking this private "class" and learning all about 3-D printing.  The boys had a few questions but mostly they enjoyed watching the machine at work and looking up their own printing ideas. 


The printer we have access to

Checking out the wheel of plastic "thread" and how it feeds into the machine

Looking at some of the projects they've made we found BB8!

The colors of plastic we have to choose from

Watching it print a Pokeball 

Looking with the librarian at some of the projects other have designed 

The machine started mis-printing while we were there.  We were bummed not to have a
Pokeball to go home with but it allowed us to see how the machine really works.  

To clear the machine when it malfunctions the material is threaded back out and back in then it
starts streaming some plastic for a bit before it once again starts printing. 

The machine automatically prints a waffle design inside to use less plastic and make the items
more light weight.  It also helps them print out faster.
My boys each filled out a paper to have their own items printed.  Since it is a 3-D printer that is available for the whole town to use we had a few restrictions.  They can only print one item a week and print jobs can not take more than three hours.

The boys were thrilled to find such a huge variety of projects on-line that are readily available to choose from.  People from all over the world are sharing 3-d printing ideas on sharing sites.

Alec chose Articuno

Ian chose a bulldozer 

Evan chose Squirtle 



Our other art projects:
Project 1: Painting with Hexbugs
Project 2: Tissue paper flowers
Project 3: Star Wars Crafts
Project 4: Watercolor compass circles
Project 5: Floral pens
Project 6: Watercolor outlines
Project 7: Scratch art jellyfish
Project 8: Oil pastel flowers
Project 9: Fingerprint dandelions 
Project 10: Beaded Sun Catchers
Project 11: Bird Crafts and Snacks
Project 12: Color Mixing Butterflies
Project 13: Water Gun Art 
Project 14: Using Watercolor Kits
Project 15: Dragonfly Silhouette Paintings 
Project 16: Painting Pet Rocks
Project 17: Spray Paint Resist 
Project 18: Water Bottle Windsock 
Project 19: Stained Glass Kits 
Project 20: Tin Can Windsock
Project 21: Firework Glue Art
Project 22: Qixel Art
Project 23: Makit Bakit Kits 
Project 24: Wood Burning Project 
Project 25: Making Our Own Raft
Project 26: Spray Painted Canvas
Project 27: Paper Bowl Jellyfish 
Project 28: Tin Foil Art
Project 29: Oil Pastel Bubbles
Project 30: Chalk Pastel Paintings 
Project 31: Washi Tape Votive Holders
Project 32: Drip Painted Pots
Project 33: Sun Art 
Project 34: Tissue Paper Transfer
Project 35: Stained Glass Class
Project 36: Visiting the Art Museum 
Project 37: Taking an Art Class
Project 38: Making Minecraft T-shirts
Project 40: How to Draw Books
Project 41: Wax Resist Watercolors
Project 42: Splatter Paint on Canvas
Project 43: Fine Line Fall Leaves Drawings
Project 44: Fairy Village Trip
Project 45: Oil Pastel Resist Leaves
Project 46: Tissue Paper Leaf Art
Project 47: Bat Silhouette Paintings
Project 48: Beginner Photography 
Project 49: Making Harry Potter Wands
Project 50: Making Cat Faces
Project 51: Making Homemade Cards
Project 52: Learning the Art of Zentangle

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Favorite TV Shows Growing Up in the 80's and early 90's

Image
Do you remember the TGIF lineups on Friday nights? I can remember planning sleepovers and time with friends around TV Show lineups of our favorite shows... or else trying to set the VCR to record our favorite shows if we weren't going to be home. And through the years I had SO MANY favorites! Growing pains aired in 1985 which put me around age 8 and it stayed on the air until I was 15 or so; I'm pretty sure most people in my age group watched mostly for Kirk Cameron and all his antics.  I still have a soft spot for family sit-coms!  The Facts of Life aired when I was just 2  and stayed on the air until I was 11 so I'm sure the episodes I remember so fondly were either some of the later ones and then reruns shown later on when I was old enough to watch from the beginning. I think everyone would have loved an Edna Garret in their lives.   Benson another sitcom that began airing when I was just 2 and was done by the time I was 9 (another one I must have watched mai...
Read more

Things That Make Me Laugh

Image
I loved the challenge of this week's list for our 26 lists link up.  I don't know about you but I really need to laugh more lately.  It's such a great stress reliever. 1.  Books-- I love a good funny book that makes me laugh out loud.  I haven't read one in a while but if you have any recommendations I'm all ears.  The last book I can remember making me laugh was the Un-Honeymooners. 2  The boys being silly. 3.  Watching shows like America's Funniest Videos or Family Feud. 4. My husband.  Most people don't realize it but he's actually pretty funny and often makes me laugh. 5.  Whenever my sisters/ family get together and we get to reminiscing (particularly if my Aunt Elaine is around) we end up laughing so hard at all the old family stories that we are all in tears by the end of the night.  It's fabulous. 6. Movies like Mom's Night Out, Christmas Vacation, and Grown Ups make me laugh out loud. 7.  When my ...
Read more

Making Gift Card and Money Holders Using Scrapbooking and Cardmaking Supples

Image
I don't tend to keep a lot of crafting supplies on hand so when I saw this month's de-stash challenge I wasn't sure what I was going to make.  I finally realized that with so many of my Christmas gifts being cash and gift cards this year that I needed to make up some fun paper crafting/ creative ways to gift them.   I still want my nieces and nephews to have something to open so I pulled out my papers and stamps and made up some cute little money/gift card holders. They were much easier to make than I thought.  The first one I worked on was to hold some oversized Nintendo gift cards.  I made a standard sized card and folded down one corner of the card front.  Then I ran my double sided tape along the bottom an 1/2 way up the side creating a cute little pocket.  Finally I added some cute embellishments and ribbons.   Voila! A simple and easy gift card holder for those larger sized gift cards.  The bulk of the tweens and teens on my list j...
Read more

Making a Sugar Cookie "Gingerbread" House

Image
 Alec really wanted to try making his own gingerbread house this year without using a premade kit.  We talked about how we never really eat the house since they don't taste very good.  Years ago we gave up on the frosting that comes in the kit and began making our own so we thought perhaps we should try making our our house too. Only problem is that no one in the house likes gingerbread.  We talked about trying to make the house using a sugar cookie recipe.  Alec was so excited at that idea since he just LOVES sugar cookies.   He found a recipe online for a simple sugar cookie recipe and mixed up the dough.  He rolled it out an cut it to the size of our cookie sheets-- we had read that it's easiest to cut the house pieces out after the dough has been baked and is still warm and soft because then you don't have to worry about any of the pieces losing their shape while baking. I had picked out a simple cookie cutter set on Amazon and as soon as the ...
Read more

Dollar Store Candy Cane Wreath

Image
Today I am linking up with some fellow bloggers for a Dollar Store craft challenge.  I don't often participate in these challenges since I try to stay away from our local Dollar Stores; I find they can be quite dangerous for me!  I knew this was the perfect time to find some inexpensive holiday decorations though and I just LOVE how my wreath turned out!  I hope you stop by and see what the other hosts are sharing. Meet this month's co-hosts! Across the Blvd | Purple Hues & Me This Autoimmune Life | Our Unschooling Journey Domestic Deadline | Sew Crafty Crochet Stone Cottage Adventures | Sum of Their Stories | Two Chicks & a Mom I bought the candy cane wreath base and a few rolls of mesh (not knowing how many I'd need I bought waaay to many; I only ended up using one white roll and one red roll. Using some chenille stems I already had on hand I attached the mesh to the wreath base trying to alternate the whit...
Read more