Featured Project – The Chuchu Dagger

Comparison between digital and cast dagger

Being a Maker encompasses a wide range of areas and skills. 3D Modelling is an amazing talent to have especially if you are into 3D Printing. The ability to take something you created from the digital world to reality is one of the many joys of being a Maker. Having only really scratched the surface of 3D modelling I have to say it is an incredibly fun and rewarding activity. There have been numerous times where I have had to do a very basic fix of a model or redesign a part of a model and such simple things really make the final result even better. But we are not here to discuss my 3D modelling abilities.

In this post we will be looking at the unique Chuchu Dagger and interviewing its creator, one of the talented Makers from our community who goes by the username Lady_Baneheart_Of_Blades. We asked her to share a bit about herself and some information about the model.

Interview with Lady_Baneheart_Of_Blades

1.  Tell us a bit about yourself. 

My name is Christelle Erina van der Westhuizen. I am 31 years old. I live in a small town.

Back in 2005 I had been introduced to 3D modelling by my mother who is an owner of a graphic design business called LP GRAPHICS. It was rather difficult starting off. It’s not always easy when you have not heard of 3D modelling before or how it was used in Lords of the rings through Maya—read through books.

I have been a creative writer since 2006 and my work was not perfect. My ideas were the drive to get to learning modelling. I have been a professional makeup artist since 2009 and since 2015 I’ve been a foundation phase teacher.

In 2008 I was introduced to Blender as a short two-day course by Anim 8. They showed the film “elephants dream”. As much as most told me that blender and maya were the same. Sadly to say, they are not. As years passed each program is their own direction and style, even if they all produce films.

In 2012 I started driving full on with blender and a few other free programs. I’ve been a productive 3D designer for 10 years now.

The dagger was intended as a gift to a friend. It was inspired by the Prince of Persia game and has a chuchu as a demon inside the dagger. That friend was interested in having daggers done for his business he was trying to get started. As a martial artist and self-defense instructor. I still have the silicone mold of it.

2.   Was this the first time you have done a model like this?

My other hobbies are ceramic art, illustrations, painting, make-up artist, sketches, and storyboards. I also love designing accurate designs of items that were broken or would be in possible use for anyone else who has seen my Thingiverse account. I also make videos for social media. And Also a hula hooper: Hula Hooping as a sport: more information on that on a later basis.

4. How long did it take to design it?

This was done quite a few years ago. So, I’ll just let you know, making a model like this must be inspired by something. Or someone. A thing or a song. This design however took me about 5 hours work and 24 hours of the molding process.

5. What did you learn during the process?
Model with 2 part mold

First time making a 2-sided mold and the correct ratios. Also, to make this during a sunny day.

6. What are your thoughts about the end result?
Completed dagger

This result was great. Sturdy too.  After it was completed in a 3D printer after approximately 18 hours of printing. Molding it. I was happy with it and glad I can duplicate it whenever I need it again.


Conclusion

We would like to thank Christelle for taking to the time to answer our questions and allowing us to feature the Chuchu dagger on our blog. If you are interested on seeing more of Christelle’s work then be sure to check out her website and Thingiverse page.

If you have a project or story that you would like to share, then join the DIY Community Forum or Discord. We are always looking for more Makers to feature on our blog. Check out the rest of our blog for other interesting topics and posts. Keep up to date with all things DIYElectronics by checking out our social media, FacebookInstagramTikTok, and Twitter. If you want to check out our store, click this link.

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