Master Carver and 3D Printed Indian Faces

By tjh1, Feb 14, 2020

We had the pleasure of working with community member Tad, an accomplished sculptor.  One of his specialties is creating realistic faces of Indians that are compressed when looking front-on, yet full sized when viewed from the side.  This allows the faces to be mounted on plaques, yet still be three dimensional.

Tad wanted to make a plaque with opposing faces of the same model.  We had just the right tools for the job.  He learned how to use the 3D scanner to create a computerized “mesh” model of the sculpture.  This was loaded into the 3D printer software and “mirrored” before printing.  It took about 10-12 hours for a complete reproduction!  All of this technology was new to Tad, but he fastidiously figured it out with help from 3D Lab staff.

Tad used epoxy to coat the printed face, smoothing the lines or “layers” introduced by 3D printing.  Finer detail (such as hair strands) was lost from the scanning process, so he carved fresh detail into the 3D printed model.  After that, he created a rubbery mold so the face could be mass produced.

When he poured his first mold for a finished face, the result was impressive, even from using a 3D printed master.  Tad is also an accomplished painter, so after careful painting, adding some turkey feathers and an eyeball (who doesn’t have an eyeball rolling around?), the finished product was amazing.

This process sounds easy, but it took a number of attempts with the 3D scanner, printer, determination, and patience to work-out problems.  Tad was with us for several weeks to see the project to completion.  But the end result was certainly worth it!