3D-Printed 'Fake' Ceramics
Those flawless round ceramics-pieces which have been thrown on a turntable. I admire the the texture it has, because it looks so natural. There is a downside on throwing ceramics though, you're not able to easily make certain shapes because the clay is rotating while it's being sculpted. However with a clay 3D-printer almost all of those shapes are possible. That's why I wanted to recreate the aesthetic of a ceramics piece that has been thrown, but use a shape that's difficult to create with that process.
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I created multiple vases with said aesthetic, with the use of different printer settings, clay sludge and sanding. I will take you through the process of creating these vases.
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Process
I designed the first shown vases to test on for this project.
For the tests I started off by making the height of every layer as small as possible, this already goes a long way. Ultimately I could've used a nozzle size of 1 millimeter, which is the smallest nozzle size for clay 3D-printers; however the Lutum 5M I used comes with a 5 and 4 millimeter nozzle-size.
By making the layers as small as possible, I also make the radiuses between the layers smaller. After this step I could start by figuring out which acts I should apply on the vases.
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The first idea was covering the entirety of the vase with clay sludge. I applied the clay sludge with brush strokes flowing along the curves of the design. This certainly captured my idea, but the goal hasn't been reached yet. You're still able to see some lines and holes the brush hairs have left behind. After baking the vases for the first time, I sanded the surface until it was smooth. This act turned the vases into what I had in mind, so I went ahead and glazed the vases.
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I didn't do anything special with the glaze so I could really see the result of my tests.
Clay sludge applied
Vase after printing
Entirely covered in sludge
Applying clay sludge
Sanded after applying clay sludge
Clay sludge applied and sanded
With the same process I created these vases for a client of mine.