Crafting Woven-Look Coasters With 3D Printing

I have always been interested in finding ways to create objects that seamlessly blend artistic aesthetics with functionality, in a novel and visually pleasing manner.

In this article, I will explore how to use of 3D printing technology to replicate and modernize an age-old craft technique known as "Stake and Strand" basket weaving. By utilizing the precision and customization capabilities of 3D printing, I am able to create unique, personalized coasters with a touch of traditional charm. The process involves designing and printing very simple parts, which I then assemble using the weaving like technique. This fusion of old and new demonstrates the versatility of 3D printing and opens up endless possibilities using my designs.

One of my sources of inspiration to create such coasters was a video material by Jason Preuss aka PatterntoPrint - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiwLv-ciS10&ab_channel=PatternToPrint - where I observed how the traditional "weaving" technique can be surprisingly imitated. I suggest you watch it; it is an extremely interesting.

Then, we will delve even further into the subject. :)

Step 1: What We Need?

That's simple.

A 3D Printer;

PLA filaments with different colors;

The projects files from Tinkercad;

Patience :)

Step 2: A Few Things to Start With

The type of basket weaving technique on which my proposed method is based is often referred to as "Stake and Strand." It utilizes some rigid strips or threads of the raw material called 'stake,' around which thinner and more flexible threads or strips of the same raw material called 'strand' are woven. Of course, I cannot rely on the flexibility of PLA, which is quite brittle by nature. So, I will print the strands already "bent," as can be seen in the drawing below.

The resulting "channels" will accommodate the stacks, which won't pose any issues; they will print easily since they are straight.

According to my rather approximate calculations, the thickness of the strand should be around 1.2mm to provide sufficient strength, resulting in a final coaster thickness of 3.6mm. It's visually pleasing, thin, and delicate, in my opinion. However, there's nothing stopping us from increasing this thickness or slightly reducing the size of the channels for the stacks, thus decreasing their size (in cross-section). With a material strand thickness of 2.4mm, we would achieve a coaster of 7.2mm, quite sturdy and resilient. I don't believe increasing the thickness further would be necessary, as it might result in rather bulky and aesthetically unpleasing coasters. For the purposes of this article, I have worked with strand and stake materials of 1.2mm "thickness."

Step 3: Designing the Coasters

I designed the coasters in Tinkercad, where I utilized Codeblocks to assist in creating the component parts of the strands.

In the simplest version, there are two components: one measuring 10mm in length and another measuring 3.6mm in length, both with a thickness of 1.2mm and a height of 10mm. I generated both of them using code and exported them as shapes, allowing me to access them in Tinkercad under the "your creations" menu (more details are available at the official Codeblocks help). Through repeated copying and alignments, I created the strand, while the stake is essentially a parallelepiped with dimensions of 7.6mm width, 98mm length, and 1.2mm thickness.

I began constructing the coaster by repeatedly copying a strand. I used an odd number (11) of strands to match the number of channels in the strands and, of course, to achieve pleasing symmetry. Then, I flipped every second strand by 180 degrees. I created the stakes and aligned them with each channel in the strands. The result is an object measuring 98mm x 110mm. A standard coaster has dimensions of 4 inches by 4 inches (approximately 100mm), so I was nearly at the optimal size. However, as I didn't have a perfect square, I reduced the dimension from 110mm to 98mm, along the stakes. This adjustment also prevented any deformations in the rounded corners.

I then proceeded to printing, meaning 11 strands (black) and 11 stakes (white) for testing. After printing, I attempted assembly...

Though I anticipated this operation to be somewhat challenging, I didn't expect to need to adjust (with a cutter) the width and thickness of the stakes as much as I did. This led to an important conclusion: for the "weaving" or "assembly" operation not to be overly difficult, the stakes must have a little bit of clearance within the channels of the strands. Thus, I chose for the thickness and width to be reduced by 0.2mm, resulting in a thickness of 1mm and a width of 7.4mm. With this clearance, the assembly process went smoothly, and you can see the final result in the photographs above.

However, the final object in the Tinkercad project isn't black and white anymore, as I wanted to try and show that we can even use four different colors in a single coaster. Photos above... With these colors, I also created a set of coasters with a corresponding holder... but more on that a bit later.

What can we change? A lot. I'll present you with two more possibilities:

Strands with different channel widths

In Codeblocks, I created four shapes of lengths 6, 8, 10, 12, and a connecting shape of 3.6mm. From these, I constructed a strand as shown in the diagram below.

I also created 11 stakes of varying widths (with the necessary clearance). After adjustments, this resulted in a coaster measuring 97.6mm x 97.6mm.

Everything that needs to be printed can be seen in Tinkercad aligned at the bottom of the coaster project.

The final object looks like the pictures above. You can see that I used PLA filament in two shades of gray also white and black.

Diagonal strands

Essentially, I took the original design (the one in the middle), and the coaster resulted after I deleted a few elements on the left and right of each strand to achieve a triangular shape. Then, after rotating everything by 45 degrees, it results in a coaster with diagonal strands and stakes.. With the three cool color shades, it looks quite good, as seen in the photographs above.

I shouldn't forget to mention one thing. In order to prevent the coasters from "unraveling," I placed a drop of super glue in the four corners of the coasters or wherever it seemed necessary to provide additional fastening.

Step 4: A Video Material With the Assembly

...to make things easier to understand :)

Step 5: An Almost Market-Ready Creation :)

Those who have had the patience and have seen some of my previous projects may have noticed that I have always tried to give my creations a more "commercial" appearance, to avoid looking like they were made by an enthusiastic amateur. And within this project, I have attempted the same. It remains to be seen whether you agree with the title in this step...

In other words...

If we look at Etsy, for example (where, by the way, newly, even 3D printed products are being sold, which seem to be considered handcrafted), coasters are generally sold in sets and with a holder for them. So, I also imagined such a holder for 6 coasters. You can find the object on Tinkercad as well. The photographs above will show how everything turned out.

Step 6: It's Not an Ending at All :)

I don't know if you've noticed, but the weaving technique I've proposed bears a striking resemblance to the paper weaving technique.

If you weren't already aware, paper weaving is a creative and artistic technique that involves interlacing strips of paper to create patterns, designs, or even three-dimensional structures. It's akin to traditional weaving, but instead of threads or fibers, it employs strips of paper.

So, if you're seeking inspiration for more patterns, just search "paper weaving patterns" on Google, and you'll find literally thousands of sources with incredibly beautiful patterns that can be realized through 3D printing and the technique I proposed in this article.

Whether you enjoyed my article, didn't enjoy it, have questions, or need further clarification, I await your messages.