Techno Bling: Assignment 4 on 3D Design Programs
3D
Printing Ear Cuffs
In my wardrobe, I already own lots of necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets. So for this project on creating an adornment by 3D printing, I chose to make something I don’t already have: an ear cuff. In creating these pieces, I tried to estimate the appropriate dimensions, as measuring the width of your ear is harder than measuring the circumference of your neck, wrist, or finger. I went with 3-4 mm for the interior of the cuff in each of my designs, and tried to make the piece balanced in weight so that it would sit properly and stay on the ear. My first designs included attaching various-sized geometric shapes to a crescent-moon-shaped cuff, to give a stegosaurus-like effect to the “backbone” of the ear, with the shapes being smaller on the outer sides and larger in the middle. After this though, I went for simpler designs based just off of the crescent-shaped cuff, and added small pyramid studs to one. I also experimented with making the cuff curved to better fit the ear, and added negative shapes to the cuff as well. I’m still torn on what my most successful design is, as I like them all in different ways. If I had done another piece, it would have combined elements from all of my designs to create the perfect one. I used Tinkercad for all of my designs, and while it was tricky at first, I soon got the hang of it. The most difficult part was figuring out how to move objects based on the workplane, as you could only move each object in two dimensions at a time. Panning was also more challenging to figure out on my laptop, without a mouse. |