An experiment in 3D design and printing, this piece represents the free spirit broken and rooted by society. Designed in blender.

When I was interning at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA I came to know that the undergrad biology lab had a powder bed 3D printer! These beasts cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and can print in full color, without need for any modification to the CAD (e.g. thorough adding supports). And at this point, I’m a guy who walks to radioshack two miles away to save a couple bucks and buy more components. So you can understand why my mouth began watering instantly! What’s more, the printer goes out of calibration if it’s disused for a while so the lab was more than open to having me try random prints. I was so ecstatic! I cracked open the manual and spent the whole night and the next day(it was a weekend) reading it. I was pumped and ready, and all I need was a 3D model to print. I pulled some models from thingiverse, but wasn’t satisfied with them. I need to make something for myself.

This was my first attempt at organic modelling. So, I started learning blender through online tutorials. I was ofcourse working full time as an RA as well, so I’d spend the nights in the bio lab tweaking models pulled from thingiverse. I gained an enormous respect for designers and artists while doing this, it certainly is not as easy as they make it look in the tutorials! But, I made progress, albeit slowly.. and in a week or so I was ready to take on a challenge. So, I set a deadline for myself, to make a gift for a friend within a weekend. And that is how this project came to be. I have taken up many other organic modelling projects since, but this one remains my favorite.

3D file: here

Credits to Arianna Zelley for inspiring the piece and Kennet McCoy for source material.