Digital Tetsubin

Inspiration & Ideation

Background

I am interested in creating new and innovative one of a kind objects. For the last seventeen years I have been exploring the idea of digital craft (combining traditional craft practices with current digital fabrication technology). I blend traditional hand crafted artistry with cutting edge technology using methods from: industry, the tech lab, metalsmiths, machinists, computer programmers, and inventors. I seek to use this blending of technology with traditional craft as a way to make new discoveries in my work and reinvigorate the processes of the past. With this work I hope to fuse the history of object making with the future of craft and technology; leading art, craft, and design into new areas that allow artists and designers to use their potential to make an impact upon society.

This body of work is inspired by the cast iron teapots called tetsubin. Tetsubin are Japanese cast iron kettles equipped with a top handle, a lid, and a pouring spout. They are used for boiling hot water, especially for making tea. The name tetsubin literally means iron pot. Cast kettles and teapots are produced by pouring molten metal into either clay or sand molds that are individually decorated inside the mold. In the Japanese tradition clay molds are usually created from a base form and then the mold itself has a surface pattern applied. In western casting traditions the pattern contains all surfacing and the mold is simply formed around the original pattern for mass produced objects. The industrial processes of the west have stripped objects of their aura resulting in mass produced sterile objects.

The advent of digital technologies has seen a resurgence of ornamentation and surface with craft and design due to the fact that complexity is often regarded as "free" due to the advent of new technologies that simplify the physical production of the object. My goal with this work was to more deeply investigate the complex forms and patterns that can be created via CAD processes and explore the potential for new surfaces and patterns that might be possible with the use of technology. I am also interested in exploring how technology, conversely, might lead to the creation of one of a kind objects that again contain aura and the digital and analog mark of the craftsperson. The base teapot form was created in CAD via a revolve feature that mimics the tools that would have been used to create the traditional teapot forms. The base 3D form was then manipulated through 2D slicing software in order to create a unique one of a kind textured surface that was 3D printed and then cast in bronze. Handles for each teapot are machined from aluminum on a CNC milling machine, but again the base handle form texture is further manipulated to create a one of a kind surface via computer aided machining operations. The result is a one of a kind series of objects that investigate form, surface, material, process, function, and seeks to understand the impact that technology will continue to have on creative practice as well as our lives.

Process:

The teapots were 3D modeled in a CAD program called Rhino, sliced for manufacturing in software called Slicer for Fusion, manipulated in Rhino again and then 3D printed in PLA plastic on a fused deposition modeling 3D printer. I then made a ceramic shell and plaster/ silica traditional investment mold around the plastic print and then burned out the plastic (just like a lost wax process except with a 3D print) in a kiln. This burnout process takes two days to make certain all plastic residue and carbon are burned out of the mold cavity before pouring molten bronze into it. I poured bronze into the mold and then once cool, removed all sprues and vents that funnel metal into the mold cavity and then finished via filing and sanding in an attempt to preserve the surface qualities from both the printing and casting processes. The aluminum handles and lids were modeled and programmed for cutting on a CNC milling machine.

Digital Process

Physical Process

3D Printing

The Mold-Making and Casting Process (overview)

Burnout (Lost Wax/3D Print Process)

Pouring Metal into the Molds

De Investing Molds

Removing the Pour Cup, Sprues, and Gates

Metal Finishing

Results

Tools

What's Next?

I currently have ten unique one of a kind teapots in various states of production that will be completed as a part of this body of work. I have also been working on three teapots that have a folded paper like surface but that are cast from bronze. In the future I will be examining this surface texture and the impacts this has on the base form teapot. I am also exploring digital drawings to accompany the work. I hope to continue my investigations into digital craft and the impact that technology can have upon the fields of design, art, and craft and the role that these processes play in shaping the world we live in.