Over the past year I've been exploring a new medium, 3D additive priniting. Using the same tools I use to create my 3D CGI lenticular images (Poser Pro and predominately Strata Design 3D CX) I can export 3D models to my Ender 3 Pro printer and make a 3D print. It's amazing, like having a Star Trek replicator. Last year, I designed a chess set in Strata and printed it out for a show last summer using my first 3D printer, a Snapmaker 3 in 1. It not only prints 3D objects, but also has a laser engraving module and a CNC module. Unfortuately, the printer module had an issue with plastic caked all the nozzle after a part I was priting broke loose from the bed. I use if for the other two purposes now.

In March I purchased the Ender 3 Pro shown in the photo at the left. The printer was $260 on Amazon, half of what I paid for the Snapmaker at it's Kickstarter price. The printer comes partially assembled and takes a few hours to assemble. I was at a show of a friend and was inspired by his sculptural work. It occurred to me that I could use my 3D printer to make tiles and assemble them into larger pieces. The first composition to complete printing is the work above "New Mexico" which has tiles that memorialize some of the places visited on past trips there.

There is great potential with this tile project to go in a number of directions, narrative as in the above composition, abstraction, or pictoral.. The tiles are currently about 2.5" x 2.5" but could be scaled up to about 8 inches with my Ender 3 Pro.