Katrina’s Bear | ENGI 210: Prototyping and Fabrication

Here is the process of how I made these metal pieces!

Firstly, I decided to make this diamond-shaped metal piece with a bear from one of my favorite artists. I chose this design because I think the bear looks very hopeful and can possibly cheer me up when I see this piece. I imported the sizes of the diamonds from the class file and started making the design through Adobe Illustrator. After I imported the image, I used the image trace tool in Adobe Illustrator and shrunk the original diamond shape 90% to get the inner outline of the metal. I then exported it as an .ai file for the waterjet machine.

With Katherine’s watch, I followed the instructions on the instruction sheet in importing my ai file and ran the waterjet machine. The process of cutting the aluminum sheet from the waterjet machine was pretty successful and smooth. I needed to add more sand into the sand container before cutting since it almost reached the minimum level.

After using the waterjet machine, I realized that my aluminum pieces have some rough edges. Therefore, I started to use the file to make the edges smooth and make some corners closer to the way I wanted. Afterward, I went to the wet lab and used the sandblasting machine. This was my first time sandblasting, so I was a bit anxious while using it. I had to go through this procedure a couple of times because there are tiny corners that I did not cover while holding the piece. When sandblasting, I made sure to turn on the exhaust and properly lock the lid after putting the pieces inside. I really enjoyed the process of sandblasting because it immediately makes changes to the metal piece, from shiny to matt.

A picture before sandblasting:

A picture after sandblasting:

After this, I powder-coated coated with other classmates, so we can use bake it at the same time. The process of powder coating also made me a little anxious because I had never tried it before. I picked brown as the powder because I wanted my bear to be brown. After we are all done spraying the powder with the current attached to the stack, we hang all of our pieces together and bring the stack to the wet lab to bake them simultaneously. Surprisingly, the brown powder turns glossy after baking, which I really like afterward.

After this, I went back to Adobe Illustrator and drew a semi-circle for the bear’s belly and a bracelet to add more details piece for spray painting. I used the Vinyl cutter to create stickers to cover the areas that I did not want spray paint to get on. I followed the instructions on the instruction sheet and carefully stuck the sticker onto the aluminum.

Before spraypainting, I put some extra masking tape to ensure the spraypaint did not get to the back of the metal piece. I picked a beige color and spray painted it multiple layers. I made sure to wait until one layer dried to start the next one.

I noticed that the powder-coated colors of the two pieces are slightly different. This could be due to one piece having a thicker coat than the other. If I were to do this again, I would ensure that both pieces receive an even application for a consistent finish. However, overall the process of making these two aluminum pieces are pretty successful. Although each step was a bit difficult and have many things to be aware off, I am happy with the result of my first ever metal post-processing piece!

Here is a picture of my final result.