Cross Departmental Collaboration in the FabLab

FSU associate professor Dr. Martin Bauer stopped by the fablab to do some 3d scanning. Dr. Bauer’s research involved machine learning and mapping in infinite dimensional space. Check out more of his very fascinating work here: https://www.math.fsu.edu/~bauer/ 
Keep an eye out for a render of Martin in the fablab in his upcoming research, which will be presented/published soon.

Fablab manager Alex Adkinson also carries out research in the department of biological sciences dealing with 3d imaging and machine learning in collaboration with post-doc Dr. Barbara Costa, Dr. Austin Mast, and fellow former FSU MFA and fablab GA, Nicole James. James, Mast and Adkinson recently published a paper on 3d digital imaging for botanical specimen collections and can be read here: https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aps3.11550

Adkinson and James will be presenting new research on 3d imaging, machine learning, and new media in the biological sciences at the University of Florida’s Museum of Natural History and Yale at the Peabody Museum in the coming months as part of a workshop series on advances in digital media in the biological sciences in partnership with iDigbio, Yale, UF, Tulane, and Cornell.

Bioplastic Experiment

Layering bioplastic casts is a great way to achieve a thicker result. Here is a step-by-step of how we created a two-layer flower-embedded bioplastic:

 

Two Guar Gum bioplastics were mixed together to form the base layer of the material (golden beet dye, local flower petal dye), then we sprinkled dried butterfly pea flowers onto the wet bioplastic.
The Guar Gum bioplastic was dehydrated at 40°C for about two days.
Side One of First layer of Guar Gum bioplastic.
Side two of First layer of Guar Gum bioplastic.
Avocado Pit Dye Agar bioplastic cast with the first layer of dried Guar Gum bioplastic layered on top.
Side One of Guar Gum bioplastic and the Avocado Pit Dye Agar bioplastic after the second round of dehydration.
Side Two of Guar Gum bioplastic and the Avocado Pit Dye Agar bioplastic after the second round of dehydration.

MoFA Collection – Open Source 3D Scans

Digital Media Fab Lab Volunteers and I have been collecting 3D scans of Museum of Fine Art collection artifacts with the Einscan Pro 2X Plus 3D Scanner. Download the published open source 3D models from our GrabCAD profile linked to the Digital Media Lab’s Resources webpage!

 

Digital Media Fab Lab Volunteer – Erica Lomnitz collecting a 3D scan of a MoFA spindle whorl.

 

MoFA Collection – Mace Head on the Einscan Pro 2X Plus 3D Scanner turntable.

 

 

Digital Media Fab Lab featured Artist – Bronson Leiro

Bronson Leiro’s rapid-prototyped Art Machine entitled “Blumen Pad” was created to offer viewers the opportunity to experience the process of making art in a condensed and engaging way. Viewers choose a paint color and coat speakers housed inside the pad. Then, each individual speaker compartment is closed by the viewer with a clear acrylic panel. By pressing the buttons on the Blumen Pad’s surface, the viewer activates sounds that vibrate the paint, causing an organic splatter pattern to appear on the inside surface of the acrylic panels. After the viewer is satisfied with the splatter result, they can position the painted panels on the “Exhibition” to experience their splattered work on an illuminated display.

The structure has several parts manufactured through Digital Fabrication processes. The electronic and “splash surface” housing is 3D-printed PLA plastic, and the “splash surfaces” are laser cut acrylic panels.

The base of the “Exhibition” (image below) platform has a 3D-printed PLA and wood filament base that houses the electronics components and holds the laser cut acrylic panels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit Bronson’s instagram to see more of his work; his handle is @durbangrove.

Digital Media Fab Lab featured Artist – Lilliana Reinoso

Lilliana Reinoso is a visual artist exploring a diverse set of media, whose process includes rapid prototyping objects from open source museum artifact scans. Her series of artworks, Stolen Objects Quilts (RED 1/3, YELLOW, 2/3, BLUE 3/3), contains 3D printed recreations of widely known artifacts. Most of the 3D prints included in this series were created from open source 3D scans and printed with the Prusa i3 MK2S and MK2.5S

“How did you get here? Every object has a sequence that gets them from where they started to where they ultimately end up. Plastic bottles, cicadas, and even art pieces gradually move throughout their lifetime, from their place of creation, to landfills, dirt, auction houses, or museums. We may know how some things got to where they are today, but for many art pieces, that knowledge remains a mystery. The obstruction of that information is being used to deny or suppress the truth in the place of nationalistic narratives.

Where do you belong? Many western and imperial museums that purport to be “world museums’ display and hold art objects from cultures and peoples that were colonized. The institutional infrastructure does not dwell on this, instead steering the viewer to more comforting and cosmopolitan ideals such as a supposed mutual sharing of world cultures. The explanation of how Ethiopian tabots, Benin bronzes, and Maoi sculptures got to where they now sit, is euphemized and whitewashed. Sitting in glass cases at best, and forgotten inside boxes at worst, these objects are stripped of their identity.

A quilt is often an intimate stitching of images and designs that reflect a culture. However, when tiles filled with personal and cultural significance are replaced with the taxonomy of stolen cultural patrimony, its usual nature is replaced with the sinking reality of these “world museums”.  These objects have not been allowed to age within their culture and function organically. What is a statue of Harihara, a Cambodian deity from around 700 AD, doing in Fort Worth Texas? In the Kimbell Museum, this statue that once was a figure of religious admiration sits in a sterile gallery, far away from its original stewards, and robbed of its old life. These quilts, through joining together the images of stolen objects highlights how decontextualization is violence, and places their stolen lives within a large network of shared experiences.”

– Lilliana Reinoso

 

Artwork Information:

Stolen Objects Quilts (RED 1/3, YELLOW, 2/3, BLUE 3/3)

Lilliana Reinoso

2021

Screen-print, soft sculpture, chicken-wire, Spanish moss, 3d prints

19″ x 117″ x 117″

 

To see more of Lilliana’s artworks and learn more about her process and exhibitions, visit her Instagram

 

Digital Media Fab Lab featured Research Initiative – Open Source Biomaterials

Deeply rooted in the concept of a Fab Lab is the notion of “data in, data out,” meaning we share information through open source networks to localize the production of objects, enabling makers to create with local materials and resources. 

With sustainability in manufacturing and supply chain a priority for many across the globe, Fab Labs offer resources and space to design and innovate with material and fuel the global initiative to reduce carbon footprint, minimize landfill waste, and other factors that lead to undesirable climate change. 

Rising alongside platforms like GitHubGrabCADMakerBot ThingiverseCults, and Youmagine, which are repositories for code and design, Open Materials Database and Materiom are two of the resources that exist for those willing to engage in the effort to create sustainable solutions for object manufacturing.

You can find some of our contributions made by the Digital Media Fab Lab research staff published on Materiom.

 

 

 

Sewn Bioplastic!

Sewn Bioplastic! These are bioplastic samples sewn together with an organic cotton thread:

The bioplastic sheet materials are cast waste by-products leftover from a Research Initiative, Digital Media Labs – Manager Caitlin Driver has led. To create the bioplastics we gently heat organic ingredients (seaweed, glycerin, filtered water, plant-based dye, and bits of organic cotton fiber), mold the materials, and air dry. The bioplastics were sewn together with a machine by Digital Media Fab Lab – Volunteer Bronson Leiro.

Butterfly Pea Flower + Agar + Glycerin + Filtered Water + Organic Cotton Fiber
Butterfly Pea Flower + Agar + Glycerin + Filtered Water + Organic Cotton Fiber
Chamomile Tea + Agar + Glycerin + Filtered Water + Organic Cotton Fiber
Chamomile Tea + Agar + Glycerin + Filtered Water + Organic Cotton Fiber
Noni Fruit + Agar + Glycerin + Filtered Water + Organic Cotton Fiber
Noni Fruit + Agar + Glycerin + Filtered Water + Organic Cotton Fiber
Noni Fruit + Agar + Glycerin + Filtered Water + Organic Cotton Fiber
Turmeric + Agar + Glycerin + Filtered Water + Organic Cotton Fiber

Digital Media Fab Lab featured Research Initiative – 20th Century Ceramic Bowl

Digital Media Fab Lab – Volunteer, Craig Moore is currently collecting 3D scans of a 20th Century Ceramic Bowl with the EinScan Pro 2x Plus 3D Scanner.

Here are some in-progress images of the scans:

The bowl is on loan to us from the permanent collection of the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts.

 

Object Information:

 

Unknown

Ceramic Bowl

20th Century (probably early)

 

Object Type: Ceramic-pottery

Material(s): ceramic

Dimensions: in 9 fragments

Donor: Katherine Burton Jones

Collection: 2002 misc

MoFA Number: 2002.13

Location: RM 134 SHELF 0-3 (Box 1)

 

 

Digital Media Fab Lab + Florida Cultural Alliance

The Digital Media Fab Lab recently created a series of trophies for the Florida Cultural Alliance’s 2022 Advocacy for the Arts rally at the Florida State Capital. Below are a few images that demonstrate our process.

We posed Body-Chan and Body-Kun dolls into positions that displayed characteristics of each legislator. We then 3D scanned the doll with the EinScan Pro 2X Plus 3D Scanner.

 

We scanned the doll positions standing and upside down.

 

After collecting several scans, we aligned the scans in the ExScan software and saved a watertight 3D model for 3D printing.

 

In PrusaSlicer software, we combined the 3D scanned model with a personalized base that we designed in Autodesk Fusion360.

 

We exported .gcode from PrusaSlicer and utilized the Prusa i3 FDM 3D printers to print prototypes of the trophies.

 

We shared our prototypes with the CEO of the Florida Cultural Alliance, received feedback, and made modifications where they were needed.

 

 

We printed the final versions of the trophies in gray PLA filament from Hatchbox.

 

We removed supports, filed, and sanded the surfaces of the 3D prints.

 

We coated the surfaces of the 3D prints with Krylon’s Paint-and-Primer in one in deep matte grey. (note: We did not spray them inside the laser machine, we were just stashing them there temporarily there while they dried so that they would be near exhaust. If we had a fume hood, we would have put them there instead.)

 

After we finished the surfaces of the 3D prints, we photographed them, and packed them up for the Arts Advocacy rally. We delivered the trophies to the Arts Advocacy rally and gave them to the Legislators.

 

VOILÀ – Success! Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith with his trophy at the Florida Cultural Alliance event – We know he loves the trophy 🙂

 

To find out more about the research project, contact Digital Media Labs, Manager – Caitlin Driver.

FSU Art’s Digital Media Fab Lab creates 3D trophies for Florida “Arts and Culture Hero” Awards