Blockprinting Bryan Tower
You may notice this carving is backwards. That is because it is more than a striking capture of one of Washington State University’s most iconic structures… it has functionality.
This piece, part of Creative Corridor’s ongoing Bryan Tower digitization project, will be used to create t-shirts through a process called “woodblock printing”. Woodblock printing has been performed for thousands of years through the painstaking labor of dedicated artists. New technology available at The Spark: Academic Innovation Hub is bringing this ancient artform into the 21st century.
Thanks to cutting-edge fabrication technology, the human labor involved in the creation of this piece was as easy as uploading a 3D model into a CNC machine, installing an 1/8-inch engraving bit, and pressing the “go” button. Precision work performed with hairline accuracy resulted in the pictured “block-printer,” which will be used to produce Bryan Clock Tower t-shirts in the near future. We will be announcing this event soon. Stay tuned!
Applications Used
- Adobe Illustrator
- VCarve Pro 8.5
Technologies Used
- CNC Shopbot 24”x 18” Desktop
If you have any questions please contact Chris Lavoie at c.lavoie@wsu.edu.