Melt | Remelt

Domestic fabrication; at MIT, 2021

This project attempts to use everyday materials to reshape everyday space. A desktop CNC machine, “Tiny Z”, was assembled from scratch using standard hardwares. Wax was chosen for its aesthetic potentials, which can be transformed almost indefinitely by heat, producing very little waste during the experiment. With an off-the-shelf pyrography pen and 3D printed components, operated with G-code, Tiny Z was hacked into a wax sculptor. This petite machine allows extremely delicate 3D carving and surface patterning that larger CNCs cannot achieve. A workflow of “melt-remelt” is developed to make tiny doubly-curved wax bricks with unique texture, which altogether transform the experience of passing by a spatial threshold at home.(Unfortunately this project was not realised at its full scale due to lots of limitations during COVID.)

Special thanks to instructor Zain Karsan