The Medford Maker

08/06/2025

02/25/2024

When we casted the 150th Belt last year, we ran into a huge issue in which chunks of the belt were missing or "Zombified" as we nicknamed it after doing a lost PLA casting. The molds weren't caked in paste wax before being dipped into the slurry, and we thought that was the issue as we could see chunks of the PLA stuck in the mold itself. After a few other classmates had similar results, and they utilized paste wax, we could not figure out why the process kept failing except for a select few.

The running theory was that the white PLA had something to do with it due to the metals present that give its stark white color. So we printed a few in black and white, and The Foundry did some tests to see what would happen. The following are some of the highlights of the results - showcasing some similar issues the black and white PLA both had, as well as some differences.

One interesting response is all four of the plates have a chunk missing out of the 2D figure's chest, of which is not missing on the original belt. The biggest issues seem to be on the top of the plates, which was the bottom when they were fired to get all the wax, PLA, and paper out of it (on both the tree and plates). This could signify that its getting stuck on its way out of the mold, ontop of other issues it may have.

Out of all the most recent PLA castings The Foundry has done, the only one to come out clean was in green - so that will be the next color we test out (cause why not).

Shoutout to the and Marjee for helping conduct this experiment so we can mitigate issues on future belts!

01/01/2024

With today being the first day of the new year, I thought I'd look back to the various projects and art / design related accomplishments I had in 2023.

First off , I graduated with my degree in Industrial Design and accidentally with a minor in Sculpture. I finished out also serving four amazing terms on MassArt's Student Government Association with an incredible Executive Board and Full Council. After MassArt, I continued my education in socially directed science and technology with Station1 Scientific Frontiers. Through that program, I reaffirmed a lot of my development at MassArt and got to work as an industrial design lead on 's team as a fellow. That would lead to some contract work with the company as well.

After only a few months, I was hired back to MassArt as their Interim Program Coordinator of Student Engagement, and it has been amazing working with MassArt's MAC Board as their advisor and SGA as a staff member helping the organizations get the resources they need to do their thing.

I worked on so many cool projects and got to revisit a lot of projects and their concepts throughout the year. My work was featured in four campus wide galleries, and it was amazing seeing all the interactions people have had with the Belt, the Puppet, and Foxy in particular. My degree project surrounded one of the highest sources of anxiety for me and everyone else with life-threatening allergies. Named after my late grandfather who passed a few weeks before it was due and still in development- I pushed through numerous hurdles to get through to that finish line of that project.

I joined the Board of Directors over at .medford.open.studios , and got to be a guest speaker at the Design Management Institute's (DMI) Diversity in Design Conference (2023).

2024 is gonna be just as great, if not better. I can't wait to see where my development goes and where life will take me. Thank you all for sticking around to see the journey so far.

12/27/2023

Didn't take the best of photos for this project but I've been on a kick working with olivewood lately and I can't say I can complain...

This XL Cribbage Board was custom fabricated using a beautiful olivewood slab found at and finished with 's butter. The back of it was flocked with black suede to prevent scratching the table underneath it. Paired with larger metal cribbage pins for ease of use, and the recipients name burned into it.

Each hole was hand drilled using a template that luckily was thick enough to not need a drill press as mine is currently down.

Thank you Jamie for the commission, so happy to contribute to such a long standing tradition between you and your father ❤️

12/11/2023

"The Bad Ending" (John Intoppa, BFA IndDes & Link Ahearn, BFA Illus) is now on display in the "Off Hours: MassArt Staff Show 2023" which is being displayed in the Frances Euphemia Thompson Gallery (Tower 11) !

There will be more content surrounding this build soon, however you have until January 15 to see him live in person. This animated prop was a joy to work on, and learning new techniques to make him come to life was also quite the experience. You can also see the "MassArt 150th Championship 1/2" on display as well!

This installation was made possible by the ever so talented , who channeled his inner child to create the illustrations that made this piece come together.

Shoutout to Student Galleries for installing the show as well! Y'all did a phenomenal job at displaying all the works.

11/18/2023

Haven't posted in a while so here's my Papa Emeritus IV mask that I rehauled for Halloween this year.

It started out as a Cardinal Copia Mask from that I rehauled. This allowed me to not worry about the skin tones and only on the face paint / hairline.

I airbrushed the white and hand painted the black. I had a blast using the air brush trying to make it look like worn down facepaint, and used similar techniques to weathering Michael Myers masks.

The robes are mostly stock, with the chasuble dyed black after multiple unsuccessful attempts. Excited to hopefully work on using these robes as a base to make them look like the ones notably used during "Con Clavi Con Dio".

Better closeup photos of the mask hopefully soon - and alas the white contact didn't arrive in time!

Paint by
Mask by
Concept by

05/14/2023

Honored to finally give President Mary K. Grant her copy of the MassArt 150th Championship belt I made in my Intro to Foundry Class. It was amazing to work with so many people to fabricate these two belts.

I really love how this came out and happy to share it with such a dear friend.

The belt was casted in solid bronze and mounted on hand stitched leather with hand placed snaps. It was 3D modeled in and the mold was made with ceramic shell and lost PLA casting.

A huge shoutout to
.massart , The Lab, Marjee-Anne Levine, Laura Gonzalez, Ruby Gonzalez, Simoné Schwartz, Judith Anderson, and so many others!

Modeled after Winged Eagle Belt.

You can see this on display in the West Tower Lobby for the Senior Show!

04/07/2023

Honored to represent MassArt for the second time at the Colleges of the Fenway night!

04/01/2023

Pouring bronze is really fun.

03/25/2023

Excited to be featured in Tina's Childhood & Nostalgia show at MassArt! Had a great reception last night it was really great to celebrate the numerous works involved.

Loved seeing all the reactions Puppet curated and having my life sized interactive Mask of Light on display!

Will post their own specs soon.
students

03/02/2023

Working on the detailing to make this PLA 3D print look like a gold casted piece has been truly an experience. Really happy with the results and can't wait to install the components of it!