3D paint brush

Abstract

This project is about controlling plastic such that a designer can create 3D art structures of 3 x 3 x 3 meters. The designer and main stakeholder (Tiwánee van der Horst) of this project has just started her own art business. Her inspiration to make art comes from her own graduation project. In this project she wants to convert 2D painting into 3D painting by swapping paint for plastic. She investigated painting and 3D printing techniques and combined them. The result is the idea to create a manually controllable extruder for plastic which translates her body movements into 3D art structures.

An extruder is a pipe (barrel) with a screw inside it and heating elements around it (figure 3). When the screw is rotated the threads (grooved ridges) will push the plastic forwards. The heating elements will melt the plastic along the way. The plastic will enter the extruder in a solid state and will leave the extruder in a molten state.

By manually controlling the extruder the designer can express her artistic creativity in 3D. The context for the artwork of Tiwánee van der Horst will be urban residential areas. In these areas she will integrate her artwork into existing features of buildings. The extruder will be used as a 3D paint brush in such a urban residential area.

The storyline throughout this report will be a journey of plastic. In the report it will be explained how plastic granulate (small pieces of plastic 4 x 4 x 4mm) is transformed and controlled by the 3D paint brush into plastic artworks.