Here’s a study I’m doing for a new triple word tower deisign… it’s a sort of work in progress, I tried a few new things when making this. First, I’m using words of different lengths, which makes for some really interesting and complicated negative space. secondly, I’m designing it with an additive-process 3d printer in mind, so I’m trying to shape each letter without any “overhangs” that would try to force the printer to build on dead air. Lastly, I’m trying a different font design, an adapted version of the “legend of zelda” text that’s on the title screen/box art for most of the games. While technically functional, I’m not completely happy with the result, I think I should have made each of the letters blockier for more support; I might be able to send this to a service like shapeways, however, to see if they’re able to do anything with it.

Hello Tumblr!

I know this is a tacky thing to do, but I am REALLY excited about the posibilities this would open up for me! Instructables is hosting a contest sponsored by the CEO of Wired magazine for a 3d design, and the winner gets a Replicator 2 3D printer. I have so many things I want to make, and my own rapid prototyper would be a huge asset!

I’m looking for any and everyone who’s willing to go to http://www.instructables.com/contest/chrisanderson/?show=ENTRIES, set up a free account if you don’t already have one, and vote for my “Three interwoven words” sculpture. I need all the help I can get!

*Edit: 10/27* I didn’t win, but thanks to everyone who looked and voted for me! I’ve got another project coming up soon that I’ll ask for some help publicizing, but that’ll be the last time I impose on my followers!

Finally! new stuff to post! I’ve been making word towers for a while that are based on a square cross section, with words that are oriented vertically and 90 degrees from each other. I’d had in idea that the concept might work with a hexagonal cross section for 3 words, but wasn’t sure how to go about making that idea solid. After lots of tinkering in Google Sketchup (and a lot of manual font design) I was able to get a workable prototype that I could transfer to pepakura designer, and generate a cardstock mockup. this mockup isn’t nearly as clean or stable as I’d like, (some of the supports around the “BMS” top tier are really too thin to be practical) but it does show proof of concept, and some really lovely abstract shapes. With a little more refining, I’m hoping I can carve one out of wood, or even milled on a cnc or 3d printed!

Recently, there was a Lego Brick Factor challenge near my home, where the company holds an open contest to see who the new “master builder” for an opening discovery center will be. I was able to participate, and was one of 40 people out of 171 to make it to the 2nd round. sadly, I didn’t make it to the final 12, but I’m hoping there will be more opportunities for assistant builders when the center gets closer to opening in May.  In the weeks leading up to the event, however, I was encouraged to practice my building skills, so I set myself some challenges. I tested myself to see if I could build a sphere (at least half of one, with the amount of bricks I had) a lifesize human hand, and an original word tower design. (“Play well” is what the term Lego originated from in Danish)

Submitted for comparison: OMG/LOL word towers. one of pine in Arial font, the other of poplar in Bookman Old Style.  The serifs more than double the time it takes to make one of these, but the finished product is much better for it.  The poplar also has a much more interesting wood grain, which comes out better with the clear coat finish.

…and pixie dust!

By way of comparison with my previous post, a more advanced word tower with a better font. (also, a nod to Peter Pan)

Really basic word tower, before I started playing with fonts. 

Sometimes it isn’t enough to be a cool idea, sometimes there needs to be a function to a piece of art.  This was an attempt at a functional word tower, the “clean” and “dirty” are upside down to each other, so you could use this to show if dishes in the dishwasher were ready to be run, or put away, for example.  Haven’t gotten a whole lot of interest in it yet, but it was still a cool idea.  Might add magnets to the base so it could be stuck to an appliance, or maybe build in a hook so it can be hung.  Thoughts? drop some ideas in my suggestion box!

My first few word towers were gifts to my family, this one was for my Mom and Stepdad.  While I can stretch the lettering to match any size word with any number of letters, I think it looks best when the two sides are even, so the “&” sign ends up getting a lot of use in my work.

Word Tower “Heart&Soul”.

The fonts with serifs seem to look the cleanest, though I’ve played with a few other styles.  I’d really like to make a triple word tower, so I could have “mind, body, soul” all carved out of one block, but the hexagonal cross section that needs it problematic to work with.  Might skip it and try an octagonal cross section with 4 words, but good 4 word combinations are harder to come by.