3D printing has been lending itself to the creation of all sorts of interesting costumes, masks, and accessories as of late. The ability to completely design a costume from the ground up has attracted many artists, designers, and creative minds into entering the realm of 3D printed fashion and cosplay.
We have seen masks created, intending to replicate characters from movies, TV shows, and video games, as well as completely unique pieces which have not been seen before. For one student at the University of Texas at Austin, named Joshua Orsburn, 3D printing allowed him to create one of the scariest masks we have ever seen — a mask of his own face. Not that his face is scary by any means, but the artistic methods he used created something so frightening that even a zombie would go running for the hills if it encountered someone wearing his creation.
“My general focus is usually more traditional print-making such as lithography, but I couldn’t leave school without giving 3D printing a chance,” Orsburn tells 3DPrint.com. “In my 3D fabrications course we were given an assignment to create an extension to the human body. My work usually revolves around the dichotomy of people’s personalities and thus chose to physically manifest these emotions into a singular mask.”
In order to fabricate the mask, Orsburn took several color scans of his own face and then used Rhino3D to “boolean the meshes” together. This allowed him to create a model which featured several different scans of his face onto the same mask.
“From there I scrapped the realistic color data and assigned an arbitrary flesh like uniform tone to it,” Orsburn tells us.
It was then off to 3D printing his creation. It took approximately 11 hours to print, using a gypsum (sandstone) 3D printer. Because prints that come off a gypsum-based 3D printer are very fragile, Orsburn finished it by adding acrylic paint and graphite, before dipping it in resin, to provide strength and a shiny finish.
As you can see, the final product is fascinating as well as quite scary — whether this was Orsburn’s intention or not. Regardless though, the job that he put forth was certainly an incredible one, and surely his professor was quite pleased with the work as well.
What do you think of Orsburn’s mask? Is this not the scariest thing you’ve ever seen? Discuss in the 3D Printed Mask of One’s Self forum thread on 3DPB.com.
Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
You May Also Like
3D Printing Webinar and Event Roundup: February 9, 2025
In this week’s 3D Printing Webinar and Event roundup, the big news this week is the MILAM conference. However, if you can’t make it to Florida, there are multiple virtual...
3DPOD 239: Joe Calmese, ADDMAN President & CEO
Joe Calmese talks to us about the financing of additive manufacturing, machine prices, and utilization. He runs ADDMAN, a large, high-end service bureau that produces many critical components, including defense...
energize.am Consortium Aims to Reinvent and Reshore Energy Supply Chains via 3D Printing
If the past half-decade has taught us anything, it’s that supply chain disruptions can shake the foundation of the global economy. The year 2020, in particular, witnessed the most dramatic...
3DPOD 238: AM in the Nuclear Industry with Adam Travis, Westinghouse
Adam Travis, Global AM Program Leader at Westinghouse, is lifting the veil of secrecy surrounding 3D printing in the nuclear industry for us in this episode of the 3DPOD. He...