S. Hoskins

3D Printing for Artists, Designers and Makers

Fully revised and with a new chapter and international case studies, this second edition of the best-selling book traces how artists and designers continue to adapt and incorporate 3D printing technology into their work and explains how the creative industries are directly interfacing with this new technology. Covering a broad range of applied art practice – from fine art and furniture-design to film-making – Stephen Hoskins introduces some of his groundbreaking research from the Centre for Fine Print Research along with an updated history of 3D print technology, a new chapter on fashion and animation, and new case studies featuring artists working with metal, plastic, ceramic and other materials. A fascinating investigation into how the applied arts continue to adapt to new technologies and a forecast of what developments we might expect in the future, this book is essential reading for students, researchers studying contemporary art and design and professionals involved in the creative industries.

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.

The Practical application of an artist's colour model as an alternative to CMYK

This paper presents an alternative view of colour, from the artists perspective. It highlights problems that are current in inkjet and wideformat printing. And how other print processes, such as (silk)screenprint, can offer answers to developing inkjet technology; such as colour saturation, surface quality, translucency and opacity. The paper introduces the Centre for Fine Print Research (CFPR), gives a context to the work that is undertaken at the Centre, and examples the International Digital Miniature Print as dissemination of research. The paper provides a historical context to colour and colour printing, and introduces the notion that white and varying translucencies of white could offer an alternative or to enhance current CMYK+ colour sets.

Relevance of 19th century continuous tone photomechanical printing techniques to digitally generated imagery

Collotype and Woodburytype are late 19th early 20th century continuous tone methods of reproducing photography in print, which do not have an underlying dot structure. The aesthetic and tactile qualities produced by these methods at their best, have never been surpassed. Woodburytype is the only photomechanical print process using a printing matrix and ink, that is capable of rendering true continuous tone; it also has the characteristic of rendering a photographic image by mapping a three-dimensional surface topography. Collotype’s absence of an underlying dot structure enables an image to be printed in as many colours as desired without creating any form of interference structure. Research at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE Bristol aims to recreate these processes for artists and photographers and assess their potential to create a digitally generated image printed in full colour and continuous tone that will not fade or deteriorate. Through this research the Centre seeks to provide a context in which the development of current four-colour CMYK printing may be viewed as an expedient rather than a logical route for the development of colour printing within the framework of digitally generated hard copy paper output.

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.

The Margins of Art Practice Bordering on Industrial Development

One popular view of artists, spread by the media over many years, is of aesthetes with no commercial acumen and a distinct lack of time management! I daresay this popular view has also found resonance with many who work in an industrial context. Examples of this are manifold, from Tony Hancock’s 1962 film the ‘Rebel’ to more recent commentary on Tracey Emin’s unmade bed. The truth about artists is actually much closer to one of self-motivated individuals with good self-discipline and a wide-ranging approach to problem solving. This preconception in itself is not the fault of industry; even when dealing with design, the 2005 DTI Paper on Creativity, Design and Business performance states: “Over half of UK firms say design has no role or only a limited role to play in their business”[ 1]. Why would they want to deal with artists?