PRIMARY TOOLS & MATERIALS:
NEEDLE ARTS, 3D PEN

Additional Tools & Materials: Adobe Photoshop, 3D pen and filament, inkjet printer, white paper, tracing paper, scissors, camera

In this pairing of "needle arts" and "fabrication," I decided to go a little more into the conceptual zone. One glance at this 3D-fabricated letterform should tell you that no needle or thread were used in the making of this object. Instead, I decided to mimic the appearance and quality of embroidery with a 3Doodler 3D pen. I began with an existing O in the typeface Coquette, which I liked because it was simple, but suggested a script captial - making this study more interesting than drawing a bunch of circles with plastic. I had already learned from Day 40's study that making clean, straight lines with the 3D pen was darn near impossible - so this time I decided to embrace that and try different movements to create different line qualities.

The first image was an homage to the classic satin stitch in embroidery - where each stitch sits closely side-by-side, creating a solid shape. (For an example of this in real embroidery, check out my study from Day 25.) I did this by placing a printed O under a sheet of tracing paper, then using it as a pattern to "stitch" the letter together with the 3D pen. I had to do this several times to get a good consistent thickness from the pen, and looking back at it now, it looks a little like ketchup. I also tried another technique from embroidery (image 4, 5, and 6) that involves placing a woven cord on the top of the fabric, then stitching tightly around it to both contain the cord against the fabric and give the stitch dimension. I did this by first tracing my O with purple filament, to represent the cord I'd later wrap with the top stitch. Then I took silver filament and loosely zig zagged back and forth much in the same way I created the red O. This time, however, the contrasting color and layered filament gave it more depth and texture. In the end, I preferred the first study, but I thought the second was an interesting experiment, especially from the back (image 6). Since I already knew working with the 3D pen was tricky, this study was an exercise in making clean, legible letters out of messy lines.