Is 3D printed art made of plastic only? Tom and Tracy Hazzard answer this question for 3D Print Art week. They debunk some of the misconceptions that 3D Print Art is all plastic. In fact, you can use other mediums such as metals, ceramics, and even exotics.
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Listen to the podcast here:
Is 3D Printed Art Only Plastic?
This is the Ask Us Anything segment.
Just about anything.
Anything art. This question is, “Is all 3D-printing art plastic?” I don’t think all 3D printing is plastic anyway, but it’s definitely not the art I’ve seen.
It also depends on how you use it. Certainly, if you’re just making something on a 3D printer and that is your art, that’s your final thing. A lot of it is plastic, but there are a lot of metallics, exotics and new materials being made all the time. There are ceramics.
The question should be worded slightly differently. You might use an FFF printer, a fused filament fabrication printer. That’s what we talked about here, plastic. We use PLA. You might use that to create your iterations and get your art piece dialed in and get it to write the way you want it. Maybe you’re going to have it printed in metal or ceramic, which you can do over in i.materialise, Shapeways, and some of these places. Whatever it is you want to do with that, and then maybe you’re going to do something interesting in the finishing. You’re going to burnish it or you’re going to age it. You’re going to do whatever it is you want to do with that as well. You might do even more artistic manipulation of it afterward. There are many possibilities as to how you do that. To say that you’re limited to plastic is not happening, plus, people are making molds.
3D printing doesn’t have to be the end result of what you make. You can use that as one tool in a process whether you’re making a mold for glass blowing or you’re making a mold for casting something in ceramic or casting foundry in metal. You can 3D print something to make a mold and a lost-wax process.
3D Printed Art: A lot of 3D printed art is plastic, but there are a lot of metallics, exotics, ceramics, and new materials being made all the time.
We’re going to talk to an artist and she’s written a book. She’s a sculptor. We’re going to hopefully get a lot more detail on all the different processes that are happening because I don’t know them. I’ve seen some of the work and it’s fabulous. It transcends plastic even when it isn’t plastic.
It comes down to your design. Even a lot of the small objects that we do, you don’t necessarily get that they’re made of plastic when you first look at them. That’s all depending on the design and your particular skill in creating your art. Plastic is a means to an end.
Also, materials are changing all the time. New materials are coming out. If that’s holding you back as an artist from 3D printing, don’t let it. Jump in.
That skill will serve you well over your career. Thanks for your question. If you have another question you’d like to ask us, we would love to hear from you. Please go to our website at HazzDesign.com. You can either send us an email or leave us a voicemail. Every page has a little button where you can click and speak into your computer or your smartphone and leave us a message.
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We hope to hear from you. Thank you.
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