Showing posts with label Lesson Plan. Show all posts

Wearable Art: 3D Printing + Embroidery


When I first started working on my own 3D printing projects, I kept coming back to the idea of combining 3D printing with embroidery.  I have always loved handwork as well as the combination of traditional handcrafts with modern technology.  In that vein, I have begun developing my own jewelry pieces that incorporate embroidery, but it would also make for a great art lesson to teach beginning students about 3D printing and design.

This project can be designed quite simply in TinkerCad.



If your students have never used TinkerCad before, you will want to start by giving them a tour of the program and demonstrating how to combine shapes as well as how to use the hole feature to cut holes in their design.  Cutting holes will be necessary to later embroider the printed design.


I also use this time to show students examples of embroidery in art.  Here are some great examples to inspire them:

Embroidery art from TextileArtist.org
History of Embroidery before 1900
Embroidery & Textile Art from the Met Museum
Women's Work at the Brooklyn Museum

We also talk about wearable art and considerations when designing a piece of art that is made to be worn.  Once students have been introduced to the project, I give them time to sketch out their ideas.  If you have enough time, it would be a great idea to hold an idea critique at this time, so they can present their ideas to their classmates for feedback before jumping into the design process.

Once students have their ideas and sketches, you can let them loose in TinkerCad to begin their designs. Students will need to think about scale of their overall designs as well as the size and placement of the holes.  

Once they are finished, the models can be printed, and then students can begin work on embroidering their designs.  If you have never done handwork in your classroom, it may be helpful to give students a quick tutorial on embroidery.  You may also want to provide students with some basic jewelry findings so they can finish off their designs and turn them into wearable jewelry.



You can take this project in so many directions!   The finished pieces can be displayed in a student art show, modeled in a fashion show, or even sold at a school event as a fundraiser.  This could also be combined with a marketing or entrepreneurship class, giving students the added challenge of pricing and marketing the designs.

Handouts for Robot Lesson

When I teach the 3D Printing robots lesson to elementary age students, I start with a discussion about geometric shapes and provide them with a booklet that guides them through the unit.  The start by identifying common shapes and we talk about the difference between 2D and 3D.  They then begin to envision how they would construct their robot using geometric shapes.  We spend a lot of time looking at related works of art and talking about creative ways to use the shapes.  We also look at some animation for ideas and inspiration.



Finally, when students have finished designing their robots, they are invited to write an imaginative story about their robot creation.


If you are interested in doing a similar project with your students, I am sharing my file for the booklet:  click here to download.

Inspiration for Building Creative Robots

When I present the Geometry Robots lesson to my students, I start off by encouraging them to think creatively about the type of robot they want to create.  What will its character be like?  What is its personality?  And, most importantly, how will you convey that personality?  On that thread, we take some time to look at expressions in works of art and animation, including, but not limited to robots.  Here are just a few of the images I share with my students as I ask them to think about how they will use shapes to create facial expressions and personality in their projects.

3D Modeling with 5th Graders: Geometry Robots


I worked with teachers at a local elementary school to help implement 3D printing into their Art curriculum.  We worked with four 5th grade classes on this "Geometry Robots" project.  The Art teacher introduced the project in Art class and students sketched plans for constructing a robot out of geometric shapes.  Students were tasked to think about the logistics of construction in 3D.

I then visited the students in their Technology class and taught them how to use the program TinkerCad.  Using their sketches as a guide, they build their robots from geometric shapes and other components.  Students learned how to move, rotate, resize, and combine their shapes.  They were encouraged to use the shapes creatively in their designs.  Students worked on these projects over two class periods in the computer lab.

Once student projects were complete, I worked with the teachers to show them how to print the files on their 3D printer.  However, this project could easily be implement in a school that does not have a 3D printer by simply skipping this step. The teacher can even take screen shots of all the students designs and print them as photos for display in the school.

For the culmination of this project, the Art teacher worked with the students to construct recycled material sculptures based on their robots.  Students can compare and contrast the initial sketch, 3D print, and sculpture.


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