3D Printed Birdhouse

When: 2015.

What: 3D printed miniature birdhouse as the centerpiece for a pixie garden.

Where: Envisiture Consulting

How: Principal. Worked primarily alone to create this art piece to donate to the 2015 Wellfleet Preservation Hall Birdhouse auction. Artist Susan Boecke contributed the polymer clay woman and child sculpture.

About the Project

This piece, called the Preservation Hall Birdhouse Pixie Garden, is a blend of high-tech and low-tech. The miniature birdhouse is a 1/2″ scale replica of the Preservation Hall entryway, shown right. It was created using 3D printing. The rest of the pixie garden was hand-crafted using a combination of natural and synthetic materials.

I began the process of making the birdhouse by taking a series of photographs of the Preservation Hall entryway. I then used these photographs as a guide to create a 3D model of the structure using SketchUp, a 3D modeling tool for designed for architects. I edited several of the photographs to create “textures,” which I then applied to the 3D model.

I electronically uploaded the final textured 3D model to the i.Materialise 3D printing service and had the model printed using a material they call “sandstone.” In this close-up of the 3D printed birdhouse, you can see that the the photographic textures have been applied during the 3D printing process, creating a physical replica that is quite similar to the original structure (which of course does not have birdhouse hole!).

Once the model was printed, I designed a layout for the pixie garden:

The garden design incorporated many of the elements found in the actual Preservation Hall front garden, including benches, stone pathways, a chess table, the lovely woman and child sculpture, and the Preservation Hall sign.

Here’s a detail of these elements in the completed pixie garden:

 

 

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