Melt | Remelt
In-House Fabrication During COVIDAcademic | MIT, instructor Zain Karsan, Catie Newell, Virginia San Fratello, 2021
As COVID hit, our access to campus, studio space, fabrication tools and shop facilities were completely eliminated. This project started with reimagining the potential of small-scale domestic fabrication and spatial installation. Material waste, fabrication noise, rental apartment regulations… Constraints can be transcended and turned into inspiration for opportunities.
A desktop CNC machine, “Tiny Z”, was assembled from scratch. I chose to experiment with wax as it is easily acquired and almost infinitely reusable therefore will not produce waste. It is light, soft, amorphous, and easily transformable by heat, which is the inspiration for hacking the CNC machine. With an off-the-shelf pyrography pen, customised 3D printed hardwares, and G-code programming, Tiny Z is hacked into a wax sculptor that takes advantage of the accuracy of this petite machinery to conduct intricate 3D carving and surface patterning. A workflow of “melt-remelt” is developed to fabricate tiny doubly-curved wax bricks with unique texture, which eventually form a home intervention that transforms the experience of passing by a spatial threshold in domestic space.
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A desktop CNC machine, “Tiny Z”, was assembled from scratch. I chose to experiment with wax as it is easily acquired and almost infinitely reusable therefore will not produce waste. It is light, soft, amorphous, and easily transformable by heat, which is the inspiration for hacking the CNC machine. With an off-the-shelf pyrography pen, customised 3D printed hardwares, and G-code programming, Tiny Z is hacked into a wax sculptor that takes advantage of the accuracy of this petite machinery to conduct intricate 3D carving and surface patterning. A workflow of “melt-remelt” is developed to fabricate tiny doubly-curved wax bricks with unique texture, which eventually form a home intervention that transforms the experience of passing by a spatial threshold in domestic space.
Design Disdovery
I. Milling
sculpting wax block, surface patterning with Tiny Z milling 
different reading depending on angles and light
II. Melting
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hack Tiny Z with off-the-shelf pyrography pen and tools
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sculpting wax with heat
III. Re-Melting
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reuse wax waste
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sculpting unique surface pattern on doubly-curved wax bricks through heat
hack Tiny Z with off-the-shelf pyrography pen and tools
sculpting wax with heat
III. Re-Melting
reuse wax waste
sculpting unique surface pattern on doubly-curved wax bricks through heat
IV. Spatial Intervention
