Ceramic Smiley Coaster

I took a ceramics class to explore how ceramics and 3D printing might intersect, as well as how learning ceramics might help me with 3D design and printing. For example, many 3D-printed objects can be made with clay, and vise versa. Material mashups--with some parts 3D printed and other parts ceramic--could be fun. Also, curling and warping can occur with either medium; supports are sometimes needed; both have very different "undo" features (with wet clay, you can just scrunch it up and start over).

As part of my first project, I wanted to see how 3D-printed clay cutters might work to produce drink coasters with designs pressed into them. BTW, clay is much better for higher temperature tasks, like hot pads and trivets, than thermoplastic filament.

I really liked Ben's (mrbenbritton) Smily Cookie Cutter and Stamp because of his two-part design with separate cutter and stamp. I also liked Omni Color's (Omnicolor67) Smiley Cookie Cutter in One because it imprints the smiley face into the clay, rather than a raised/embossed face.

The cutter can be many other flat shapes, and the imprint can be many other designs. The Thingiverse has lots of cool cookie and playdoh cutters for ideas. The heights of each cutter and imprinter should be adjusted for the thickness of the clay slab and desired depth of the imprint. My set works well for a 6mm clay slab and a 2mm imprint.

My cutter has a cutting edge slanted outward because that makes a cleaner cut with clay. (See my fifth picture.) For a nice rounded cut, I placed plastic wrap on top of the clay slab before cutting and stamping. The plastic wrap also makes it easier to separate the cutter and imprinter from the cut clay. Some cookie cutters may have blunt cutting edges or edges slanted inward, which can work but may need more clean-up for a smooth clay edge.

The cutter and imprinter work as a set. First, the cutter cuts the shape into the wet clay. Then with the cutter still in the clay, the imprinter is placed into the cutter and pressed into the clay. The cutter acts as a guide for the imprinter, so it presses straight into the clay. The imprinter has a ledge which stops it from pressing too deeply into the clay and also provides visual guidance to keep the imprint even/level across the entire clay slab. As mentioned earlier, my set works well for a 6mm clay slab and a 2mm imprint.

Clay shrinks during drying and firing. My remixed coaster is scaled up (110%) to create typical 100-110mm drink coaster when completely glazed and fired, which assumes about 10% clay shrinkage.

A clay slab can bend and warp as it dries, especially thin slabs. I rolled my slabs to about 6mm and slowly dried the coasters between flat boards, to produce straight flat coasters.

Overall, my remixed cutter and imprinter printed easily and worked well. I plan to attach felt pads or cork backing to the rough coaster bottom to avoid scratching surfaces (e.g., wood tabletops).

As part of this project, I also created a cutter to produce basic drink coasters. See Ceramic Montessori Coasters.

Based on my experience with 3D-printed clay cutters, I think it would be cool to create a ceramic version of a construction toy set (e.g., Erector Set), such as Ralph Malchow's (hallo_ralph) Creative Building and Play. Or maybe, a ceramic remix of Isaiah Dohler's (zaydohler) popular Topographic Catch All Tray.