Brooch A Day - Printed Steel Rosettes

The first month of the year is almost done and the brooch a week challenge has been fun so far. Last week I finally received the 3D printed week 1 rosette models from Shapeways.
It's always interesting to see the printed outcome. I did add some pins to the back to be able to wear them as brooches and pin them to the large canvas I hung up on the wall. It will be so much fun seeing all those hundreds of brooches on that canvas at the end of the year. Walking by that canvas everyday keeps me on track and serves as an instant inspiration board.

The design process via Rhino3D and Grasshopper modelling was explained in the last post.
All (except the Anemone Rosette design) were printed in bronze infused stainless steel which has always a nice texture from the printing process.

BAD-001 Rosette 3D printed stainless steel, 32mm diameter, 3mm thick, designed in Rhino3D and Grasshopper

BAD-002 Rosette with denser elliptical shapes

To test I also had these 2 rosettes printed a bit larger in the smooth plastic material (polished white plastic and a set in coral red). But the details don't come out well with that material, expesially for the denser design on the right. The shapes have no refinement and bleed too much into each other. It seems to work better if there is some empty space around the printed sections (see at the end of the post below). BTW: the coral red does not look red to me but rather hot pink. It certainly gets some attention.

BAD-001 and 002 printed in laser sintered nylon plastic dyed coral red, nickel pin in back, 43mm diameter each

Looking at the printed circle brooches it's apparent that the detail on the printed steel can't match the detail I get from milling in wax. But neverless it's quite interesting.

BAD-004  Circle Rosette Brooch: 3D printed stainless steel, 30mm diameter, 3mm thick

BAD-003 & 004 Circle Rosettes

BAD-005 two versions of the Pyramid Rosette brooch in steel

BAD-007 Daisy Flower Brooch in steel

All printed stainless steel rosettes

I knew the "tentacles" of the anemone rosette (BAD-006) would be too thin for the steel printing. I did have it print in the coral red plastic instead. This allowed me to print with a larger larger diameter and more height without getting it too heavy and being so expensive. The stainless steel printing can get quite costly, I have to say. I think I will switch more to the plastic versions where appropiate. Otherwise I will be broke making 352 brooches in steel.

Anemone rosette, laser sintered nylon plastic,  dyed coral red for some more craziness, 41mm diameter, 15mm high

The depth it pretty nice.

Back side with stainless steel pin

This weekend I have to make the printing files for the models from the last 2 weeks and send them off to Shapeways for printing. At least now I have a better feel for some of the material properties.


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