Over a century ago, father and son glassblowers Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka from Dresden, Germany, became world-famous for their meticulous and highly realistic recreations of plant and marine life. While each piece was made entirely of painted or colored glass, their sculptures didn’t appear to be glass at all, but identical to the living creatures they copied, only frozen in time. Preservation through taxidermy or other approaches was either impossible or yielded poor results for study by researchers and the public - only the Blaschkas successfully mimicked nature’s beauty.
Detail on 3D printed version
Fast-forwarding to today, no one has ever been able to match the Blaschka’s uncanny ability to capture delicate life in glass. What we do have are thousands of original Blaschkas in a few museum collections, mainly in the northeastern United States. As you can imagine, they are painstakingly preserved and rarely transported even among display cases, as each movement risks permanent damage.
But one curator, marine biologist and Cornell professor Drew Harvell, has a vision to share these beautiful (and scientifically significant) pieces with the vast portion of the world that can’t see them in person. She tells this story in the award-winning movie by David Brown, “Fragile Legacy.” Here’s where 3D printing comes in: Stratasys reseller CADD Edge learned of the Blaschkas through Peter Fried, who is working with Professor Harvell on perfecting the 3D scanning of the collection, and suggested the new Stratasys J750 full color, multi-material 3D printer might be a perfect fit to easily re-create the stunning beauty of the original artifacts.
View in the Stratasys J750 software, PolyJet Studio, with photo overlay of the original Blaschka
Fried essentially asked CADD Edge, “Is 3D printing at a stage to re-create these glass sculptures?” You’re seeing the remarkable progress toward that objective, thanks to the stunning resolution and full-color capability of the new Stratasys J750. This first test print is of Blaschka model B-560, a 2-inch squid sculpture that’s over 130 years old, but now beautifully mimicked in a durable 3D print that can be easily transported and handled safely.