Rhett Carlin - ATCM 3355 F23: Project 3 Serial Slicing

Reference

Reference

Concept: I remember very distinctly when I found out my brother had killed a deer with my grandfather. A doe to be more specific, which prompted an outburst on my part that my brother had "killed Bambi". The Deer made its way to my aunts who then turned the doe into venison jerky which lasted us for months, the reconciliation in the doe's death was that... she tasted amazing. I soon became a big fan of my brothers hunting excursions as it provided away time from his presence and foretold the promise of more venison. Except, his hunting eventually evolved, finding the most beautiful bucks he could find and killing them for the crime of running into him. Older venison is tough with sinew, low grade meat that would be cast aside, making the only valuable part of the buck being their status as a trophy. Unsurprisingly my brother also wanted to be a cop when he grew up.

Luckily, he grew out of this, but the concept of trophy hunting stuck with me. I wanted to cerate a "trophy" in the same essence, celebrating the beauty of the deer in an effort of appreciation rather than violence and domination. The deer head is a symbol of male domination on full display, it becomes a reflection of the hunter as though its beauty, and its subjugation, adds to the masculinity of the hunter. So, I wanted to subvert that, create this symbol of masculinity that isn't also intrinsically tied with the need for violence.

Concept

Processes: I knew I wanted to make the antlers out of metal, the ability to bend and create curves to accentuate the femininity while also giving the metallic brass shimmer that attracts the eye was very important to the design. I had small wooden coasters laying around that also could act as a fantastic hanging plate made the project easier as well. I began by creating a rudimentary model of the deer's frame in Maya, not worrying about extreme detail and then importing the mesh into Rhino where I could turn it into a solid geometry, and use grasshopper to slice the model into layers.

I set the layer height to 0.06 inches (roughly 1/16th) of an inch and exported the layer drawings. Using the Cricut Maker 3, I uploaded the layer images and began cutting the shapes out of 1/16th inch balsa wood. Once completed, I layered the pieces, gluing each piece to the last until I had a wooden version of the deer Frame. Using a Dremel, I bore holes into the side, back, and top. I made the ears out of leather and wire. I drilled a hole into the coaster and attached the head to the coaster with wood glue. For the Antlers I took brass wire, bending it into shape and drilling holes for places smaller antlers could fit. I glued the antlers in place, and inset two neodymium magnets into the back for easy hanging

Completed Print _ Angle 1

Completed Print _ Angle 2

Materials:

Balsa Wood

Pine Wood

Cow Leather

Brass

The materials follow the same general formula a majority of midcentury design aesthetics seem to strive for. The deer head acts as a piece of furniture as well as a statement piece very intentionally, it should be able to be missed or stared at.