14 DAY TRIAL // There are many species of living creatures and plants that are on the way to extinction, and one woman believes that it would be a real shame if we only had pictures of them left after they're gone. That's why she started her latest 3D printing project.
She isn't looking at animals, at least for now. Instead, she wants to help immortalize those beautiful flowers that man will be sad to see gone.
Sure, efforts to preserve and protect the species are underway, but history has taught us that it doesn't always work.
The woman in question is Associate Professor of Art Darlene Farris-LaBar, from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania.
The 3D printed flowers
They are very beautiful things. Even before Darlene Farris-LaBar got around to painting them, they were very eye-catching things.
She designed the flowers individually and then used a Rhino 3D software to turn them into the three-dimensional products she was hoping for.
She actually taught herself how to use the 3D software. Not that it's such a big science to figure out the basics, but there's definitely evidence that she spent days figuring out every trick she could find. The flowers wouldn't be nearly as realistic otherwise.
Farris-LaBar prints each flower, and in some cases each petal, individually, on a Stratasys Dimensions Elite 3D printer. The sort that doesn't trade performance and quality for a lower price.
Finally, she takes them and mounts them into plaster (mimics the ground) and proceeds to add the paint. The plaster is hand-molded, to show the design skill contrast, making each sculpture original. She even includes compartments in the plaster, with treasure maps that lead viewers through certain locations depicted there.
The practicality of 3D printed flowers
Farris-LaBar may be an art teacher, but her hope is that the flowers she created can be used as 3D field guides, to show off the unique characteristics of each flower to everyone nearby.
Essentially, she knows that the extinction of many of them is inevitable, but with this at least mankind will always have a realistic memento of them. To “reveal what currently exists” before pollution, urban development, and the changing climate claim the last specimens.
What's left is for her to research, design, and 3D print other plant species from around the world, all the while building a 3D plant design library that anyone will be able to access and download from, no matter where they are in the world.
