The Chess of Me

Well, we made it to semester end. Our chess set designs were finalized, and we booked times into the lab to print. 

I had known from the beginning that I wanted to lean strongly into 3D printings ability to construct a layered intricate product that could self-support - I had handled the example prints in the lab and really got a sense that this was a rigid lightweight plastic that would hold itself up as long as I gave it a sufficient base and stayed mindful of its gravity center. I love that 3d printing can create these spire-like hollow forms, with peekaboo cutouts between forms so I hoped to bring that into my print. Whilst these designs are possible in wood or clay from a technical sculptural standpoint, I do think they work best in print and showcase what I admire about the material. 

I blogged my concepts previously - but this was the winning concept

Concept sketches

Peer feedback went well - I had some trouble deciding between the dinosaur concept and the man who was devoured by rabbits, but some early feedback from Hark was to try them both if I was really stuck. I did also get some feedback that the rabbits would either be too complex or wouldn't stack and that modeling a human figure would be too time-consuming- I'm not sure if maybe I wasn't getting my concept across or if that was because we hadn't printed before and were unsure of its technical capacities. 

I knew once I had the base rabbit model, being able to chop and modify it would save time that I could spend on the hunter form.

I did consider how the story of the man who was devoured by rabbits related to the story told in chess - that when the king is taken/ when the hunter is overcome, the game ends. I thought there was a nice parallel in that. I understand that not everyone will be familiar with a traditional Cree story, but believe that as this is a story that has documentation online in multiple places, interested parties can either ask for information or educate themselves. 

I did give both the dinosaurs and the rabbit models a try - on the first weekend I came in and spent in the computer lab. It did... not go well. I really hated every thing I was making - it didn't fit the aesthetic I wanted for either option and I felt like I just couldn't get a handle on what I wanted - the control points/exploding/rebuilding option was not working well and I find the computer lab pcs slow. I spent several hours working but went home that weekend with nothing. I tried to stay positive about it - which Hark helped with. I resigned myself to the idea that I was getting out all the crappy ideas and that I would make some meaningful progress in class that week. 

I did get ahead that class - a rabbit head, that is. It was frustrating to make it through a full class and only come out with a pawn completed, but I had finally nailed the polygonal aesthetic I wanted by going back to basics. I went back to how I built the papercraft and used a similar method to build my base bunny. I had booked print time for Sunday of that week, so I really had to cram a lot of work into the intervening days. I spent Saturday at the school working again - there were some technical issues with the computers but I did discover solidpton command which made my life so much easier. After discovering it I headed home because it was bogging the school computers down - each control point move would freeze the computer for three or four minutes. After heading home and working that night, I was ready Sunday to print my hunter form in addition to the pawn, as tests. 

Prusa slicing for error checks

The test dudes ran well, thankfully. 

Printing took a good chunk of Sunday

Keeping these increasingly complex forms closed AND manifold was a bit of a problem and required some patience in the order of boolean functions but we got there in the end.

Pawn through King - Lineup

Plain chessboard set up

MURDER chessboard set up

Of course, the best part of this project was getting to add a final touch. As soon as I considered doing a story that tied to my culture, I knew I wanted to add beading to the chess set. 

Completed set with beads representing blood/ implying hierarchy/narrative

I did have a file deletion issue that curtailed my work about 3am on Tuesday morning before I was due to print - I was able to recover the .stl files I had been prusa slicing, but it meant I was unable to edit some sections that then went on to fail during printing. In the future I would look to adjust some areas that had sag and to change two limbs from points to tapers for better printing. But, even with those failures, the structures still have enough attachment points that they stand which is due, in part, to the material.

As you can see from the image, I did also try a few different attachment/ knot ideas for the beads, and eventually found one I liked. 

Given the time, I would be interested in editing these models to remove the error points, and print again. I would invest in a fine fishing line or similar and try out some different bead sizes. Whilst I am happy with the outcome of this project, I believe it is only a starting point, not the end goal.