The 3D printer can be a great tool to make texture rollers to use on the surface of your clay forms. Whether it is for pots or sculpture, a strong and relevant texture on your work can be critical to creating an engaging piece. In this exercise, we’ll learn to create a digital model of a texture roller and then print it with a 3D printer.
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What you will learn:
– How to duplicate and repeat forms in Tinkercad
– How to stack and group many shapes into one shape
– How to adjust the size and proportions of an object in Tinkercad
– How to cut cylindrical voids out of the solid digital model
– An assortment of techniques for applying your 3D printed texture roller to wet clay to create unique textures
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Before you do the Tinkercad tutorial on this page, make sure you watch and complete the Tinkercad overview HERE. The following tutorial assumes you have completed the overview video first.
There’s also an interesting “tips and tricks” page HERE.
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The dimensions of the texture roller in this video are 60mm high, 40mm wide, and 40 deep. The interior hole is 20mm wide. The dowel is 18mm wide. This is the size of most of the rollers we have in the studio, so it’s helpful to make our rollers consistent so that we don’t have to print lots of sizes of dowels. Obviously, it’s easier to find a dowel if they are all the same size.
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To create your digital texture roller model, follow the steps in this video:
Once you have completed your digital model in Tinkercad, you will need to download your file as an .STL file. This will enable you to then open the file in a “slicing” program that will prepare the model for your particular 3D printer.
Use your slicing software of choice to prepare the model and print it on whatever 3D printer you have access to.
Remember, every texture roller design makes a different texture, so make a collection for yourself, and share and borrow from your peers to experiment.
Once you have your texture roller 3D printed, the only thing left to do is print a dowel insert. The dowel insert just needs to have a slightly smaller diameter, as well as a “stopper” on one end, so that it’s easier to hold and have the roller spin when you roll it across the clay.