3D printing is a technology that is starting to catch on as a means of creating individualized, custom promotional items. Whether it is a keychain for a small company, or a large display for a Fortune 500 corporation, we are beginning to see the technology utilized more and more.
For one English rock band, named Shriekback, 3D printing was a way for them to create limited edition album copies for their die hard fans. For those of you unfamiliar with Shriekback, they are a post-punk/new wave rock band that originated in the early 1980s. Formed by Barry Andrews, the band is set to release their latest album, ‘Without Real String or Fish’, this coming March. In doing so, they recently made available 50 limited edition box sets, which included a 3D printed Seabream fish.
To have the 3D printed fish created, Barry Andrews of Shriekback contacted Andy Lewis, the founder of Pot8oSh3D (Potato Shed), who runs his own 3D Hub.
“I run a hub on 3DHubs, based just North of London,” Lewis tells 3DPrint.com. “Just before Christmas, Barry contacted me to ask if I would be interested in his project and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Scanning the fish!
Lewis, using a 3D scanner from Matter and Form, took a 3D scan of a 25cm long Seabream fish from the supermarket. Andy’s partner at Pot8oSh3D; Wojtek Grabczak, then modified it using Blender to create a detailed 3D mesh which delighted Barry and amazed Shriekback’s followers.
“You can see from the photos that the fish is to be presented lying on a bed of ‘3D printed string’; Essentially, black ABS that has been extruded from a 3D printer hot-end,” Lewis tells us. “As it turns out, our 3D printing capability wasn’t able to satisfy Barry’s requirements, so we contacted another 3DHub in Denmark to do the actual printing. Most of the design work was undertaken by another 3DHub, also in the UK. The 3DHubs community was intrinsic to the success of this project and I can’t possibly overstate the importance of this fantastic community.”
3DHubs has been a rapidly growing community of companies and individuals who own 3D printers, and rent time out on these machines to those who don’t. We have really begun to see many larger companies turn to 3DHubs to get their 3D printed work down quickly and affordably.
As for the 3D printed fish, it was included in the limited edition release of the new album, and was limited to just 50 copies. Lewis tells us that they all sold out in a matter of hours. Because of the high demand, they are currently producing yet another limited edition, with more details coming soon.
“In addition to the scanning, design and printing, we also 3D scanned the members of the band with an Occipital Structure Sensor and have put the results of these scans up on Sketchfab for Shriekback’s followers to download and modify as they please,” explained Lewis.
It appears as though 3D printing of these promotional albums was quite the hit for Barry Andrews and Shriekback. It should be interesting to see if other bands follow suit. If they do, Andy Lewis and Pot8oSh3D will be ready.
What do you think of these 3D printed Seabream fish? Is this a good method of promotion by musicians and bands? If you are interested in purchasing this latest album, you can visit the Shriekback store. Discuss in the 3D printed Shriekback fish forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the Nemesis music video from Shriekback, dating back to 1985, below.
