Issue 1

Transformations

Print a Model of the Shakespeare and Company Lending Library Membership

  • Rebecca Sutton Koeser

  • DataBeyondVision
  • HowTo

TXT

Startwords Startwords doi:

Alternating rows of white and green “lollipops” fade into the distance and out of focus, with the white data points noticeably larger in the foreground.

Close-up of 3D printed lollipop chart with labels.Photo by Shelley Szwast

⩩———————————————————————————–⟩ | FIGURE. Alternating rows of white and green “lollipops” fade into the distance and out of focus, with the white data points noticeably larger in the foreground. | | CAPTION: Close up of 3D printed lollipop chart with labels. | ATTRIBUTION: Photo by Shelley Szwast ⩩———————————————————————————–⟩

Print a model of Shakespeare and Company lending library membership by date, as described in Data Beyond Vision.

We invite you to participate in the embodiment and visible labor of data work. Download the following models and instructions, use your hands to recreate the data physicalizations we developed, or use them as inspiration to make your own interpretive objects. If you make any of these physicalizations, please share them on social media with the hashtag #DataBeyondVision.

Tools

  • 3D printer (single or dual filament)
  • Slicing software (e.g. Cura or Simplify3D)
  • Blade or file (for removing filament artifacts)

Supplies

  • 3D printing filament in two different colors

Steps

  1. Download the zip file with 3D models and extract the files.
  2. Load comb-lolly-cards-a.stl into your slicing software and rotate and scale it so that it fits along the long dimension of your print bed. Make a note of the scale factor you use.
  3. Load and slice the other three parts of the lollipop chart (comb-lolly-cards-b.stl, comb-lolly-members-a.stl, and comb-lolly-members-b.stl), scaling them with the same scale factor you used for the first model.
  4. Print the two card models in the same color.
  5. Print the two member models in the second color.
  6. Clean up any printing artifacts or threads on the lollipops.
  7. If you want to print labels, slice and print the appropriate set for your printer (dual filament or single). Dual print models are provided as base and text, to be combined in your slicing software.
  8. Arrange the comb models and labels on a table or other display.

Yield

3D printed model of Shakespeare and Company library membership

3D printed object and accompanying 3D printed labels laid out on a table; this side view shows labels for the years, 1919–1942.

The online version of this essay includes an interactive 3D viewer displaying a model of this object.

⩩———————————————————————————–⟩ | FIGURE. 3-D model of Shakespeare and Company membership lollipop chart. ⩩———————————————————————————–⟩