The idea is to create the wheat seedpods in 3d printed ASA plastic, then finish in gold leaf.

Each seed could be printed separately and glued together. The 39 seeds can be primed and sanded much easier individually as apposed to one large unit.

(Note to gilder: I wonder if the gilding process would be easier before assembling?)

This method of seedpod building requires a lot of Fusion 360 magic. You have to layer the seeds and cut away the upper one from the lower, plus you have to do this consecutively all the way up the 39 seeds. This is better explained by the illustrations below.

Why Gold Leaf

The original idea was to carve the wheat seedpods from a solid cedar log. This costs approximately $2000 per pod, which we will continue to propose. But knowing the cost, makes using gold leaf at least competitive, I think?.

Change note: I was considering using PLA filament, but there is a chance it could melt in high heat climates. ASA is strongly recommended for outdoor use. This means I will need to build an enclosure for my Prusa printer.

Advantage 1: ASA seedpods will be considerably lighter, which should save on the cost of the most expensive material in the budget, the stainless steel. The stem diameter size (and even the wall thickness) may be able to be reduced.

(Note to self: I need to start gathering weights and sizes so that our engineer can run some structural analytics)

(Note to self: I need to confirm this with a gilder and a plastics engineer.)

Advantage 2: I can create the seedpod form myself in the studio. This may be a disadvantage depending on how I value my time. Although, once the process is proven, I could always farm it out. There are lots of 3d printer farms around.

Change note: Looking at the two images above makes it clear some adjustments to the slicer settings are in order. The wall perimeters are set to 2. If these are to be sanded, they should be 3 or 4. The infill is only 2% here, it should be at least 10%, maybe 20%. There is a danger that the whiskers could tear the pod apart in high winds. Somehow, this needs to be tested. There are two adjustments that I can see that might help.

• We could change the whicker diameter from 1/4″ to 1/8″ that would also save money. But it would mean redesigning these forms in Fusion. I think that’s a yes. (BAD IDEA, at 1/8″ they bend under their own weight…must stay at 1/4″…or maybe they could be tubes?)
• The rods need to travel the whole length of the seed instead of an inch down. Another good idea. It also creates a sort of lock together of the seeds.

Change note: I have changed the models so that the whisker holes go all the way down the seed, and yes, they do go through two seeds, which help with the alignment and the strength.

Fusion 360 modeling…

The modeling of the seedpod is a major undertaking. It is pushing the limits of my skills. Below gives you some idea of the complexity of the issues. I’m about to start all over again, maybe simplifying the base form.

Gilding Specs & Issues

The wheat seedpod is a 8″ in diameter and 36″ tall. It is assembled from 39, 3d printed seeds. It will be shipped to the gilder already assembled, unless the gilder thinks it will make their job easier to have it shipped as 39 individual seeds. In this case the gilder would need to do the assembling and gluing.

We will be proposing these public art sculptures in groups. The smallest group would be 3 finished seedpods. Other sculptures might be in groups of 5, 7 and 9.

We anticipate landing several “Long Whiskered Wheat” commissions over the next two years. A $25K commission should be enough to create and install a 3 stemmed wheat project. It might take a $100K commission to create the 9 stemmed wheat sculpture.

The plan so far is to 3d print each of the 39 seeds using ASA filament, the smooth them in a vapor bath for about 30 minutes. This is a process that I have not explored yet. I will need to make a custom enclosure with a hanging device. From everything I have read, this should remove most of the layer lines and give it a good surface to apply the gold leaf.