Course: OBDF 301 — Digital Craft
Assigned: Wednesday, Jan 14
Due: Wednesday, Jan 21 (@ start of class)

Assignment Description

This assignment is a warm-up for CNC milling and slipcasting.

Using Rhino, you will design a simple castable object and create a visualization of the mold that would be made by pouring plaster over that object. The goal is to begin thinking about positive/negative relationships and casting logic before entering the shop.

What You Will Do

1. Model a simple object in Rhino (the positive)

   • Hand-scale

   • Simple geometry (bowl, tile, dish, cup, relief, etc.)

   • The entire positive must fit within an 8 × 8 × 2 inch bounding box

   • No surface detail required

2. Create a visualization of the mold (the negative)

   • Model a conceptual negative that represents plaster poured over your positive

   • This does not need to be production-ready

   • Focus on clearly showing:

     • Positive vs. negative

     • Where material is added vs. removed

   • Boolean operations, section views, or exploded views are all acceptable
     
     

3. Create a process blog

   • Set up a Blogger blog for this course

   • This will be your ongoing documentation space
     
     

Blog Post Requirements

Create one post that includes:

• Screenshots of your Rhino model (positive)

• Screenshots showing your mold visualization (negative)

• A short written reflection addressing:

  • Why your form works for slipcasting

  • What the positive/negative relationship reveals about your design
    
    

What to Bring to Class (Week 2)

• Your Rhino file

• Your Blogger blog URL

We will review these together and use this work as the starting point for the CNC-milled foam positive project.

Notes

• This is a low-stakes warm-up

• Prioritize clarity and logic, not polish

• You will revise and build on this work in the next assignment