- INTRODUCTION : KUKSA CUP -
Within the Cyber + Spoke class this semester, my project focused on updating traditional craft based designs. I chose to redesign an iconic Scandinavian item known as the ‘Kuksa Cup’. Kuksa cups originated in Northern Sweden, where they were hand crafted from wood. In my project I endeavoured to update various aspects of the kuksa cup inluding: 1. The aesthetic in terms of form. 2. The manufacturing process involved in the creation of the Kuksa cup.
3. The materials used during manufacturing. Redesigning the kuksa cup posed numerous challenges, but nonetheless provided valuable first hand experience in cybercraft.
- PROJECT PHILOSOPHY -
When approaching the cyber manufacturing element of my project I opted to take advantage of CNC milling. In regards to the craft manufacturing element, I chose to explore the ancient method of slip casting porcelain. The two methods proved to be compatable as CNC milling does not allow for undercuts to be made, which also cannot be cast without breaking the plaster mould. Because of this CNC milling acts as a safety net to prevent un-castable forms. Through slip casting virtually infinite color options can be produced from the same mould, as well as varying glazing options. This versatility acts as the bespoke factor within the kuksa cup project. I sought to design a product that stands out, adding value to a traditional design by updated the aesthetics of the object as well as by utilizing a material that has superior qualities. In so doing I hoped to add my design signature.
- KUKSA CUP HISTORY -
Kuksa, otherwise known as ‘Guksi’ are traditionally crafted drinking vessels made by the Sami people of Northern Scandinavia. The cups are carved from birch burl that is harvested in the region. Burl wood is ideal for carving the spherical cups because the wood grain is not linear, rather it is twisted. This makes the cup more resilliant against splitting. Historically Kuksa cups were gifted to relatives after being ‘duodji’ crafted. Duodji refers to Sami handicraft which merges function and art. Once gifted the cup would be well maintained and often last the user’s lifetime. Kuksa cups were frequently worn on the belts of the Sami people. Unfortunately, traditional kuksa cups are difficult to acquire outside of Northern Scandinavia as mechanized forestry rarely harvests burl wood. Kuksa cups are cleaned with detergent free water and a drying rag.
- KUKSA CUP HISTORY -
Kuksa cups have been crafted for thousands of years. The primary tools involved in the creation of a Kuksa cup include: 1. A saw to harvest the burl wood. 2. A small hatchet to form the burl wood into a cube. 3. Charcoal to draw the orthographic views of the cup on the cube faces. 4. Sharp wood carving knives to sculpt the form out of the wood block. 5. A spoon knife to carve the bowl out. 6. Sandpaper for a smoothing finish. Once the cup has been carved it is ready to be cured for longterm use. There are a variety of traditional approaches to curing, however a popular method is to boil the cup in salt water. The curing process enables better longevity of the cup. The cups were often accessorized with reindeer antler inlays, scrimshaw art and leather.
- TARGET AUDIENCE -
Demographic Profile: - Age: 25-55 - Sex: Male & Female - Income bracket: Mid-Upper - Interests: People who are interested in Scandinavian architecture and design, who are ritualistic about their daily tea consumption and enjoy the outdoors. Target Persona: Name: Robert Peck Age: 33 Gender: Male Occupation: Photographer Income: $65,000 Interests: camping, orienteering, kayaking, morning and evening tea, wood fires, landscape photography, vegetable gardening
I began the 3D modelling process with an orthographic profile sketch of a cup design. This image acted as a reference to aid in the polygon modeling process. I opted to work in Autodesk’s Maya software for its sophisticated scultping tools. The initial phase of modelling consisted of creating the bowl shape of the kuksa cup from a primitive cylindrical form. Next I began the process of extruding the handle from the cup bowl.
Still following the profile orthographic sketch I continued to sculpt the kuksa cup handle. While I modeled the geometry I considered how the user would hold the cup and the mechanics of the human hand. This reflection aided in sculpting an ergonomic handle that would nest comfortably in the users hand. I would periodically preview the smoothed polygon mesh, to visualize surface continuity, before reverting back to a low poly-count to continue modeling.
Nearing the completion of the kuksa cup 3D modeling, I merged the two handle extrusions forming a closed loop for the index finger. The final modeling stage consisted of fine tuning vertex points in the polygon mesh to optimize surface continuity. Lastly, a procedural smoothing function was applied to the low-poly mesh to prep the file for rapid prototyping. The geometry did not need to be shelled as the process of slip casting does this automatically.
As the process of CNC milling does not permit undercuts I modelled the cup as a half and then mirrored the geometry. The cup halves were oriented to maximize the cutable area of the cnc machine. Using Netfabb I double checked the CAD geometry to ensure the model did not have any holes, intersecting polygons or flipped normals. Once the .stl file was prepared I proggressed to the next phase of the manufacturing process - CNC milling blue foam.
CNCing the kuksa cup 3d model out of blue foam.
Completed CNC prototype.
The CNC model took approximately one hour to mill out to a high finish.
The blue foam prototype was used as the master form for mould making.
Removing kuksa cup halves from blue foam block.
Using a scalpel to remove excess material from cup halves.
Cutting out the index finger hole.
Glueing cup halves together to unify the master form.
Sanding the kuksa cup to remove milling steps.
First coat of epoxy is applied to harden the kuksa cup.
Second coat of epoxy is applied to prepare the cup for sanding.
Sanding the kuksa cup to a smooth finish.
Purchased slip casting supplies.
Measuring cottle board dimmensions on MDF wood.
Cutting the cottle boards on a table saw.
Cottle boards ready to be used for plaster mould making.
Earthenware clay to be used as a ‘mask’ during mould making.
Isolating specific surfaces of master form by masking with clay.
Surrounding work piece with cottle boards.
Gently mixing 1Kg water with 1.3Kg of plaster.
Slowly pouring plaster mixture down side of cottle boards.
Pouring the plaster down the wall helps to prevent air bubbles.
Allowing time for the plaster to harden into a solid block.
Removing cottle boards to reveal plaster mould half.
One of two mould halves produced.
Inserting master form to generate second half of mould.
Forming a clay plug to prevent plaster from entering mould spout.
Painting plaster with soft soap and boxing work piece with cottle boards.
Mixing the second batch of plaster to create the second mould half.
Pouring the mixed plaster inside of the cottle boards.
The master form and first mould half are submerged in liquid plaster.
Allowing plaster to harden before removing cottle boards.
The second half of the mould created by the first half and cup form.
The clay plug and master form are removed from the mould halves.
The completed master mould lockedtogether with rubber bands.
The opening in which the slip will be poured for the casting process.
First attempt at slip casting. Slip is poured into mould and left.
After the slip has sat in the mould for one hour the liquid slip is poured out.
The slip that is in direct contact with the plaster develops wall thickness.
The kuksa cup has a soft clay feel before drying.
Removing the kuksa cup from the master mould.
The first production unit of the porcelain kuksa cup :)
Removing excess material from the lip of the kuksa cup.
Using the back of a spoon to smooth surfaces. The cup is ready to fire!
I wanted to design the packaging for the porcelain kuksa cup in a manner that reflects the way in which it was manufactured. Although the moulds of porcelain wares are seldom seen by the buyer, they are effectively works of art in themselves. This gave me the idea of packaging that is reminiscent of the plaster moulds used to generate the kuksa cup. This packaging would give the buyer the novel experience of removing the kuksa cup from a ‘mould’. To produce the packaging I would lazer cut the profile of the kuksa cup out of rectangular sheets of recycled card. The cards would be divided into two stacks and bound together with pva glue. The two stacks essentially become two blocks, representative of the two part plaster mould. The two blocks of card would be joined down the the central cross section of the cup using a male and female dowl system. The dowls are represenative of the locator notches featured on plaster moulds.
Kuksa Cup - Package Design
- Stacked recycled card - Wooden dowels
ITEM:
- TIME VS. COST ANALYSIS -
-soft soap -clay block -slip -plaster bag -cottle boards -blue foam -blue foam glue -epoxy -sand paper -x2 spray bottles -plastic tub -paint brush -rubber bands -metholated spirits -weighing scale
COST:
$6.50 $12.50 $15.00 $20.00 $10.00 FREE FREE FREE FREE $4.00 $3.00 $2.00 FREE $5.60 FREE
RECURRING COST: Yes - Infrequent Yes - Infrequent Yes - Infrequent Yes - Infrequent NO Yes - Infrequent Yes - Infrequent Yes - Infrequent Yes - Infrequent NO NO NO NO Yes - Infrequent NO
PROCESS:
TIME:
painting on plaster masking master form pouring in mould + set mould making assembling mould box CNC Milling gluing mould halves coating master form sanding master form N/A mixing plaster + water soft soap application N/A N/A weighing plaster ratio
3 Minutes 6 Hours 2 Hours 10 Hours 30 Minutes 1 Hour 30 Minutes 3.5 Hours 3.5 Hours N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 10 Minutes
TOTAL: 27.13 hrs $78.60 TOTAL: RECURRING COST: $59.60 Almost all of the hours and money required to create the porcelain kuksa cup are spent rapid prototyping the master form and making the master mould. The master form never needs to be made again. The master mould only needs to be remade after approximitely 100 units are manufactured. This makes the cost of producing large volumes extremely low. The amount of time required to produce a single unit is also low, relative to other manual production methods. I calculated that one kuksa cup could be made in 3 hours of manual work. In a 40 hour work week 13 kuksa cups could be generated by one person. This still leaves 2.5 days on weekends for batch firing the 13 cups. The cost to produce one cup is approximitely $1.50 and it can be sold for around $25. Profit margins increase with: warm environments, more moulds, a personal kiln.
RECURRING TIME: NO NO YES NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
TIME: 2 Hours Casting + 1 Hour manual touch up + 3 days kiln firing (batch production) TOTAL: 3 manual hours per unit made
- PROJECT SUMMARY -
Over the course of the semester I explored a design practice that joins the cyber world of rapid prototyping with hands on craft. Utilizing this approach I attempted to redesign an iconic artifact, the Kuksa cup from Northern Sweden. The project began by first familiarizing myself with the origins and craft surrounding kuksa cups. Equipped with this knowledge I was able to step into the design process through the medium of digital sketching. This allowed me to quickly generate numerous concepts for potential kuksa cup designs. When I discovered a design that was worth refining I moved to the next stage of redesigning the kuksa cup i.e. 3D modelling. Maya was used to digitaly sculpt the kuksa cup, preparing the design for rapid prototyping. When the CAD file was refined to a satisfactory level, I proceeded to CNC mill the form out of blue foam. After some brief hands-on work the blue foam model was ready to be used for mould creation. Moulds were made using traditional techniques involving plaster, clay and cottle boards. When the mould was finished I proceeded to the slip casting phase of the project. This involved pouring liquid earthenware into the plaster moulds. When the slip is inside of the mould a chemical reaction occurs in which the plaster absorbs moisture from the slip. This reaction allows wall thickness to ‘grow’ depending on how long the slip is left inside of the plaster mould. The excess slip, still in liquid form, is poured out of the mould. When the two part mould is separated, inside is the newly formed kuksa cup. With some additional hands-on refinement and time firing in the kiln a functional porcelain product is created. One master mould can produce approximitely 100 units of the product.
PROJECT RESOURCES : http://www.raymears.com/blog/hand-carving-your-own-kuksa-cup/2282/ http://www.thebetacup.com/2009/10/07/kuksa-a-cup-for-life/ http://finnish-puukko.blogspot.com.au/2007/02/kuksa-ancient-lapland-drinking-cup.html http://www.finlandforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=888 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guksi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saami_Family_1900.jpg http://simonhillgreenwoodwork.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/alder-spoon-and-kuksa-so-far. html http://scandinavianretreat.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/cool-cabin-by-aasthaulow.html