I design these vessels using 3D CAD software, and print them on a 3D printer. I can work with you to create a custom one in the shape and color you like.
I don’t want to call them vases because they aren’t generally speaking, intended to contain water, but to contain the water containers for ikebana arrangements. They won’t dissolve if they get wet or anything, but prolonged exposure to liquid may cause deterioration or grow mold — much as if you were using a wooden container.
This piece holds a 3″ florist tube. It’s all one color, made from PLA. It’s light-weight, because the inside is mostly hollow to save on material. This is true of all of these.
This is mostly done in a material that’s kind of shiny and has the property of reflecting different colors depending on the direction you turn it (green, purple, copper). The stripe midway up is shiny copper. There’s a hole at the top to accommodate a standard 3″ florist tube.
It’s more difficult to print objects that use different bands of color, and the band has to be a flat layer. This is because they are printed in a single job, one tiny thin slice at a time, and each slice needs to be all the same color.
I’m working on a way to print them in separate pieces that can be assembled, but for now this is what I can do.
The software I wrote to create these, is intended to produce a certain type of shape — these crystalline, polyhedral forms — but that covers a lot of ground, and if you want something it doesn’t support, I may be able to make it happen. Here’s an image gallery of some things I didn’t print, but just created while noodling around in the program.
