EARRINGS

SS304 1MM THICK SHEET STOCK

In 2018, I suffered a devastating loss - the pair to one of my favourite earrings. After some failed attempts to track down another pair from old or left over stock from the seller, I decided to take matters into my own hands and digitally fabricate a copy using the single original earring I had left. I reached out to a friend who works in 3D Printing Laboratory for Human Anatomy Education. I provided her with a 1:1 .ai file that I had been able to produce by scanning the original earring and using image trace to translate the jpeg file into a vectorised image in Illustrator. She then took the .ai file and translated it into an STL file, the industry standard for 3D printing. I was limited to ABS plastic as a material for a very reasonable price and got 4 copies printed.

There were some limitations in how fine the material could print, and the result appeared slightly “chunky”. It was very delicate and flimsy, and unfortunately only lasted one wear. I was determined to achieve a good result, so I then reached out to a laser cutting company that could could cut metal accessories. I extracted a .dwg file from the illustrator vector linework and submitted the template for cutting on a 304 stainless steel sheet with 1mm thickness and natural, demurred and buffed finish.

The end result is quite similar to the original and I am very pleased with it.