3D Printing Eggshells: Exploring Eco-Socio-Technical Relations through Biomaterial DesignIn response to ongoing environmental crises, the digital fabrication community within HCI has recently begun to design with biomaterials. Biomaterials and their corresponding practices carry eco-socio-technical relations that shape the creation of more sustainable futures. From this perspective, we present three entangled contributions: (1) a new, easy-to-make, 3D printable eggshell biomaterial, (2) a circular, material-centered practice for designing with the eggshell biomaterial, and (3) a reflection on the eco-socio-technical relations that the eggshell biomaterial and corresponding biomaterial practice reveal. We outline our design process for sourcing ingredients, developing a recipe, 3D printing artifacts, characterizing properties, and testing disposal methods. Through five provocative applications, we critically reflect on how our eggshell biomaterial practice surfaces unique eco-socio-technical relations. We envision this eggshell biomaterial extending the current material library for 3D printing and promoting circular digital fabrication practices, while also highlighting the importance of ecological awareness and community engagement in designing for sustainability.2025FBFiona Bell et al.University of New Mexico, Department of Computer ScienceDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationShape-Changing Materials & 4D PrintingEcological Design & Green ComputingCHI
ColdGlass: Full-Color Desktop 3D Printing in GlassColdGlass is a new material and workflow for accessible, affordable, and full-color glass 3D printing. We present: 1) a recipe for a 3D printable glass paste, 2) software and hardware that enable 3D printing, and 3) a firing schedule for sintering printed parts into solid glass. We evaluate our recipe and firing schedule by comparing the look, feel, shrinkage, porosity, and density of a collection of printed objects. We then present a range of functional and decorative glass artifacts that we 3D printed from ColdGlass including earrings, tiled glass sheets, sculptures, and functional vessels. We also describe methods for reusing and recycling glass in our workflow. We conclude by discussing the unique affordances of ColdGlass and the creative opportunities it provides for digital fabrication, design, and HCI.2025CFCamila Friedman-Gerlicz et al.University of New Mexico, Department of Computer ScienceDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationCustomizable & Personalized ObjectsCHI
American Indian Pottery and Clay 3D Printing: An Exploration of Opportunities and Risks in Professional PracticeWe describe an artist residency program in which three professional American Indian potters experiment with the use of clay 3D printing in their practice. The artists navigate the opportunities and risks involved in blending 3D printing with Pueblo pottery. In our analysis, we introduce and examine three aspects of digital fabrication that impact professional practice: the practical, creative and conceptual. Practically, a digital fabrication machine may improve or worsen efficiency. Creatively, a machine can both expand and constrain the kinds of work artists can make. Finally, a machine can be conceptually significant; the use of the machine can change what a piece means and how it is perceived. We found that clay 3D printers: 1) are labor intensive to operate and do not improve efficiency; 2) can present new and compelling creative opportunities; 3) are conceptually fraught. The use of a 3D printer can profoundly change the way work is received and valued. We discuss the entangled mix of opportunity and risk that these aspects of clay 3D printing present.2025MLMonica Silva Lovato et al.Independent ArtistDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationShape-Changing Materials & 4D PrintingCHI
TRAvel Slicer: Continuous Extrusion Toolpaths for 3D PrintingIn this paper we present Travel Reduction Algorithm (TRAvel) Slicer, which minimizes travel movements in 3D printing. Conventional slicing software generates toolpaths with many travel movements--movements without material extrusion. Some 3D printers are incapable of starting and stopping extrusion and it is difficult to impossible to control the extrusion of many materials. This makes toolpaths with travel movements unsuitable for a wide range of printers and materials. We developed the open-source TRAvel Slicer to enable the printing of complex 3D models on a wider range of printers and in a wider range of materials than is currently possible. TRAvel Slicer minimizes two different kinds of travel movements--what we term Inner- and Outer-Model travel. We minimize Inner-Model travel (travel within the 3D model) by generating space-filling Fermat spirals for each contiguous planar region of the model. We minimize Outer-Model travel (travels outside of the 3D model) by ordering the printing of different branches of the model, thus limiting transitions between branches. We present our algorithm and software and then demonstrate how: 1) TRAvel Slicer makes it possible to generate high-quality prints from a metal-clay material, CeraMetal, that is functionally unprintable using an off-the-shelf slicer. 2) TRAvel Slicer dramatically increases the printing efficiency of traditional plastic 3D printing compared to an off-the-shelf slicer.2024JGJaime Gould et al.Desktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationCircuit Making & Hardware PrototypingUIST
Ode to Barelas: Supporting Youth Agency, Cultural Expression, and Community Engagement Through an Interactive MuralCommunity mural projects provide youth with the opportunity to learn new skills, have a voice, and deepen their connection to their communities. This pictorial reflects on a participatory community-based STEAM project in which a group of teenagers collaborated with a muralist (Author 2) and two interaction design researchers (Authors 1 and 5) to create an Interactive Mural – a traditional mural with embedded electronics. We analyzed students’ experience of agency, expression, and connection to community throughout the project. We discuss how large-scale community-centered projects that provide opportunities for student agency and expression are rich learning environments that can promote technological fluency.2024ABAlyshia N Bustos et al.Participatory DesignSustainable HCIMuseum & Cultural Heritage DigitizationDIS
CeraMetal: A New Approach to Low-Cost Metal 3D Printing with Bronze ClayThis paper introduces CeraMetal, a low-cost and robust approach to desktop metal 3D printing based on a custom "metal clay". We present three recipes for 3D printable bronze clay along with a workflow that includes print parameters and a sintering schedule. We introduce custom slicing software that generates continuous extrusion toolpaths for metal clay printing. We analyze the shrink- age, density, tensile strength and flexibility of prints produced with Cerametal and find the material’s performance comparable to parts produced via other bronze 3D printing methods. Finally, we provide several examples of 3D printed metal objects and a discussion of limitations and future research opportunities.2024LBLeah Buechley et al.University of New MexicoDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationLaser Cutting & Digital FabricationCHI
Interactive Murals: New Opportunities for Collaborative STEAM LearningThis paper introduces interactive murals—artworks that combine longstanding traditions in community mural painting with ubiquitous computing—as new sites for collaborative STEAM learning. Using research-through-design and participatory design methods, we conducted an intensive spring and summer workshop in which high school students were introduced to electronics and programming through the process of creating an interactive mural. We describe the workshop activities, the mural design process, and the data collection and analysis methods. Through documenting student learning in programming and electronics and the collaboration that occurred, we build an argument for the novel learning affordances of interactive murals, emphasizing the unique opportunities that they provide for collaborative STEAM learning.2024ABAlyshia N Bustos et al.University of New MexicoProgramming Education & Computational ThinkingCollaborative Learning & Peer TeachingDigital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceCHI
WeaveSlicer: Expanding the Range of Printable Geometries in ClayClay 3D printing is a relatively new technology and only a narrow range of geometries is 3D printable if one is employing commercially available slicing software. We experienced these limitations in an artist residency program where artists discovered that many desired geometries failed to print successfully. This motivated us to develop WeaveSlicer, a slicer optimized for 3D printing in clay that maintains constant wall thickness throughout the form. We achieve constant wall thickness by generating an oscillating path where the amplitude of the oscillation is determined by the form's overhang angle. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by comparing a range of successful prints, sliced by WeaveSlicer, to failed prints of the same forms sliced by Cura, a widely used slicing software. We then showcase a collection of complex artifacts designed by artists in residence that were constructed with WeaveSlicer.2024CFCamila Friedman-Gerlicz et al.University of New MexicoAging-Friendly Technology DesignDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationShape-Changing Materials & 4D PrintingCHI
Shape-Changing Clay-Dough: Taking a Material-Oriented Approach to 3D Printing Ceramic FormsThis paper presents clay-dough, a 3D printable ceramic material that is made from a mixture of stoneware clay and a biomaterial dough. While all clays shrink when they are fired at high temperatures, clay-dough enables more dramatic shrinkage due to the dough burning away. We developed three clay-dough recipes made from different ratios of clay-to-dough and characterized the properties of each recipe; ultimately correlating shrinkage, density, strength, and porosity to the amount of dough in the recipe. We then leveraged clay-dough's shrinkage in our material-oriented approach to create ceramic forms, where form is dictated by the pattern we load the clay-dough materials in for 3D printing. To exemplify this approach, we built a design space around basic cylindrical forms that change shape during the firing process into more complex forms and explored a range of non-cylindrical applications. Lastly, we reflect on the limitations and opportunities for clay-dough and material-centered research.2024FBFiona Bell et al.University of New MexicoShape-Changing Materials & 4D PrintingCircuit Making & Hardware PrototypingCHI
LilyTiny in the Wild: Studying the Adoption of a Low-Cost Sewable Microcontroller for Computing EducationWe designed the LilyTiny sewable microcontroller over ten years ago in an effort to make electronic textiles more accessible to students, educators, and novices; it was meant to be affordable, easy to get started with, and well-supported by curriculum. We also designed the LilyTiny with hopes of helping to bridge the gap between e-textile activities using only lights and batteries – and those requiring knowledge of Arduino programming. Following its pilot, the LilyTiny was released as a commercial product through SparkFun Electronics, costing about $5 (USD) and shipping pre-programmed to control various LED behaviors. Free curriculum was released alongside it, detailing six low-cost activities that could be taught without any prior electronics experience. This paper shares our study of the LilyTiny's adoption since its release, especially with regard to computing education. We discuss several measures of impact, beginning with a review of derivative products and a multi-year analysis of sales data from the LilyTiny's sole distributor. We then augment our discussion with a survey of customer reviews, social media posts, and related computing education curriculum and research. Finally, we reflect on the experience of bringing a prototype to market – and how this work might invite broader discussion around defining and measuring impact. Ultimately, we do believe that our findings substantiate the LilyTiny's value in the computing education landscape – particularly when it comes to lowering barriers of entry to e-textiles.2023ELEmily Lovell et al.Programming Education & Computational ThinkingElectronic Textiles (E-textiles)DIS
3D Printable Play-Dough: New Biodegradable Materials and Creative Possibilities for Digital FabricationPlay-dough is a brightly-colored, easy-to-make, and familiar material. We have developed and tested custom play-dough materials that can be employed in 3D printers designed for clay. This paper introduces a set of recipes for 3D printable play-dough along with an exploration of these materials' print characteristics. We explore the design potential of play-dough as a sustainable fabrication material, highlighting its recyclability, compostability, and repairability. We demonstrate how custom-color prints can be designed and constructed and describe how play-dough can be used as a support material for clay 3D prints. We also present a set of example artifacts made from play-dough and discuss opportunities for future research.2023LBLeah Buechley et al.University of New MexicoDesktop 3D Printing & Personal FabricationShape-Changing Materials & 4D PrintingCHI
Slabforge: Design Software for Slab-Based CeramicsSlab-based ceramics are constructed by rolling out flat sheets of clay, cutting out a pattern, and then folding the cut clay to build a three-dimensional design. Slabforge is an open-source web-based software application that supports slab-based ceramics. It enables users to design a range of simple 3D forms and then generate flat patterns and matching 3D-printable slump molds that support the construction of those forms. This paper discusses the development of the software in the context of our own ceramics practice and then describes the results of a study in which students in an introductory ceramics course used Slabforge to create tea sets. We use both of these experiences to motivate a critical reflection on the relationships between materials, craft, digital fabrication, and software, introducing three themes of friction that we encountered during the course of this project.2022MHMelody Horn et al.University of New MexicoAging-Friendly Technology DesignProgramming Education & Computational ThinkingCustomizable & Personalized ObjectsCHI