Poop Art

The Filament Purge Design Contest set me thinking and experimenting.

The artistic plaque was created by heating an oven dish full of filament purge (poop) at 220°C in an oven. After cooling, the plaque is made neatly rectangular by sawing off the 4 sides straight. After this, I designed a suitable frame to exhibit the artwork. A support arm to place the frame on a table or cupboard and a spacer for the wall have been added. I was pleasantly surprised with the incredibly beautiful result. This is definitely worth repeating and I won't throw away any more filament purges from now on!

My phone's camera is unable to properly capture the real beauty! The end result looks most like a shiny bathroom tile! The different types of filament (shinny / with glitter and normal ones) all create their own blend. Some become real spots, while others still show clear lines. The top layer becomes really glassy.

Details on the creation process and how to do it yourself:

First off, don't use a baking dish like I did! The molten filament adheres to the enamel layer because there is no air left under the plaque. After cooling, the plaque shrinks and warps slightly. The oven dish is now completely ruined because the enamel protective layer was pulled off in pieces! A wise lesson for next time!

Use a steel oven tray or bowl, or use baking paper under the filament while heating. Keep in mind that small bits of molted plastic on not protected areas are very hard, or even not removable at all!

I only used real “poop”, the curly wads created during filament changes.

I just threw them in at random without really sorting. At 220°C only use PLA poop. There were also some PETG variants in the mix. These do not melt completely flat at that temperature.

While the mix slowly heated up, I pressed the mixture several times using some baking paper on top and a stew masher. I did this several times until almost all the air was out of the mass.

Ensure there is sufficient ventilation during melting! A clear odor is noticeable. If possible, you can also place a small oven outdoors. When using an oven with top and bottom heating elements, place the dish or plate at the lowest part of the oven to prevent the top layer from burning due to too much direct heat!

Once the plaque had melted fairly flat and the poop had blended together, I took them out of the oven (use oven gloves!) and let the baking dish slowly air cool.

The plaque will shrink and warp slightly as it cools! It will be easy to remove with non sticky surfaces. Afterwards I softened the plaque again by immersing it in boiled water (100°C) and clamped it between 2 wooden cutting boards so that the cooled down as flat as possible.

The plaque created had irregular edges after cooling. I made the plaque neatly rectangular using a circular saw. The thickness of the plaque depends on the size of the bowl or plate used and the amount of poop used. I got a plaque of ± 3.5mm thickness. The plaque is clamped between the 2 parts of the designed frame and secured by firmly gluing with super glue all around.