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Printing in 3D with Bone

3D printing is fast growing in popularity, and while access to 3D printing may not be that prevalent yet, the interest is definitely there. People have been printing all sorts of things in 3D these days – even chess sets! I don’t think there’s anything cooler – as of now – as what Juliana Meira do Valle and Michael Storey have done. Juliana is a DXArts/Art major and Michael is a Mechanical Engineering major. That is a perfect combination for this kind of project, don’t you think?

Basically, they decided to make meal to use as material for 3D printing. With this meal, they printed out, well, bones. How did they do it? They had two recipes for the bone meal.

Initial Bone Recipe

Powdered Bone Meal — 5 parts by weight.
12x Powdered Sugar — 1 part by weight.
MaltoDextrin —- 1 part by weight.

The other recipe resulted from the fact that they needed something stronger.

Secondary Bone Recipe

Powdered Bone Meal — 4-5 parts by weight.
UF plastic resin glue — 1 part by weight.

The result? Awesomely realistic bones!
3d Bones

This project has huge potential in many different aspects. Think about it – if someone can create “real” bone material, then 3D printing can be used for a host of medical purposes! Less critical – perhaps – but no less interesting is printing out entire skeletons for museums and similar purposes! Mark my words, we are going to hear about 3D printing a whole lot more in the months to come. In the meantime, hats off to these two students!

Via Open3dp

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When Rubik’s Cube and The Joker Collide

Rubiks JokerRubik’s Cube is always a hit with nerds, geeks, or whatever label you want to use. Admit it, as a kid, you probably spent a considerable amount of time trying to one-up your friend in solving this puzzle. Decades later, Rubik’s Cube still holds irresistible attraction for kids of all ages. Of course, with the changing times, we also see all sorts of new things that people do with Rubik’s Cube.

Here’s a perfect example of what one can do with hundreds of Cubes. Sometime last year, artist David Alvarez decided to come up with a mosaic portrait of The Joker – the Heath Ledger version, of course. He used about 300 Rubik’s Cubes to create a pretty good representation of arguably the best Joker ever. Lest you think that it is a simple matter to put those multi-colored cubes together, I ought to tell you that Alvarez had to give his brain a little work out. Before putting the Cubes together, he first had to twist them into the appropriate color patterns.

Since I have never tried to create artwork with Rubik’s Cubes, I really don’t know difficult that is. I do think, however, that it might be a viable alternative to having to solve one of those darned puzzles. Check out the video and let me know what you think.

Here’s another video of the same artist creating another mosaic. This is an older video, actually, and he uses dice to “draw” Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. How cool is that?

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Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests

Theo JansenWhat in the world is a strandbeest? It is an animal created by Dutch physicist, artisit, and kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen. While it may not be a living form in the strictest sense, the strandbeest might very well fool you.

Jansen has gotten a lot of attention by creating beach animals which are self-propelling. That succinct description may not pique your curiosity enough, but trust me, watching a strandbeest in action definitely will. Jansen created his strandbeests using simple materials such as recycled water bottles, plastic tubing, rods, and rubber rings. Glancing at a beest, you wouldn’t think much of it – just another piece of installation art, probably. Once it starts moving on its own, thanks to the wind that has been “caught” in the water bottles, you probably will find your lower jaw dropping involuntarily. See it for yourself.

In his web site, Theo Jansen gives some details on how he was able to make these things work. You can find concepts, theories, and math – even details on the 11 Holy Numbers. If you’re the sort who wants to figure out exactly how things work, then you ought to read what the mastermind himself has to say. In case you get converted and become a Jansen fan – which is likely to happen – you can also get his books and DVDs from the web site.