D. Huson

Specifying colour and maintaining colour accuracy for 3D printing

Advances in rapid prototyping technologies have led to the emergence of three-dimensional printers which can fabricate physical artefacts, including the application of surface colours. In light of these developments, this paper asserts that the need to print colour accurately is just as important for designers using three-dimensional colour printing as it is for two-dimensional inkjet printing. Parallels can be made with two-dimensional digital Inkjet printing and 2D common problems include: on screen previsualisation, colour management methods, colour gamut and maintaining colour accuracy. However, for three dimensional colour printed objects, there are more variables that will affect the finished colour. These are: the powder and process inks, unevenness of the surface, wax post-processing and other infiltration media and procedures. Furthermore, in some 3D printers, the K channel is replaced by the binder and so the printer is only using the cyan, magenta and yellow channels. The paper will suggest methods for improving pre-visualisation and accurate pre-viewing of the colours through the manufacture of three-dimensional colour charts as a reference guide for designers so that they can make accurate coloured artefacts. A series of case studies will be demonstrated.

3D Printed Ceramics for Tableware, Artists/Designers and Specialist Applications

The Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England has over five years experience in the 3D printing of ceramic materials. The first project undertaken was to investigate the use of 3D technologies for artists and resulted in the development of a patented ceramic body suitable for use in Z Corporation 3D printers. After bisque firing this material can be further processed using conventional glazing and decorating techniques. A follow on project has resulted in a modified ceramic body and the development of firing supports to enable thin section ceramic tableware to be produced for ceramic industry concept modelling and short run or one-off pieces for artists and designers. This paper will detail the progress of the research and will explain by using case studies and examples of collaboration with a leading UK pottery manufacturer, individual artists and designers how this novel technique can be utilised to form shapes and forms difficult or impossible to realise by conventional forming methods. The potential of how the ability to form ceramic objects with complex internal structures could be beneficial to more specialist ceramics industries will also be explored.

Underglaze Tissue Printing for Ceramic Artists, a Collaborative Project to Re-Appraise 19th Century Printing Skills

Under-glaze tissue ceramic transfer printing first developed circa 1750 and involved engraved or etched copper plates, from which tissue was printed with cobalt blue oxides. Under-glaze tissue has a very distinctive, subtle quality - it is an integral part of both English ceramic history and the history of copperplate engraving. The process was common in the UK ceramics industry until the1980s. However from the 1950s it began to be supplemented by screen-printing, because underglaze tissue transfer was relatively slow and required skilled artisans to apply the transfers. The authors are collaborating with Burleigh Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, the last remaining company to produce ceramic tableware decorated using the traditional printed under-glaze tissue method. The pottery was recently saved from closure by the HRH Prince Charles Regeneration Trust, who wish to maintain the traditional manufacturing skills for the next 25 years. The Centre for Fine Print Research (CFPR) in Bristol has been reappraising the use of these traditional 19th Century skills with modern materials and methods for producing engraved plates. The project seeks to demonstrate how those 19th Century methods can be applied by contemporary ceramic artists. The paper will explain the process of ink manufacture, heating the plate for printing, digital methods of making plates and the use of potters tissue.