Day 2 in Manchester

My second day in the city started off at a 3D-printing presentation/workshop, directed by an American artist, educator, engineer, and designer named Golan Levin. He was very knowledgeable and gave us a well-rounded presentation on 3D printing and all related topics. He briefly introduced us to some basic 3D-modeling software in which we created our initials (very simple, like stacking blocks. Much like Minecraft, apparently).

This is a MakerBot 3D printer. The green and grey spools on the right are kind of the equivalent to ink cartridges in a regular inkjet printer; the spool supplies a long, thin, strand of plastic which, when heated in the printing nozzle, melts and is extruded like writing with icing on a cake. The nozzle moves back and forth, building up thin layer after layer of plastic on a metal platform until you get a 3D object. It's just a very mechanized way of sculpting from bottom-up.

Here it is printing the letter 'M' I made. You can see in the photo below how the 'M' is on a base of plastic which you peel off once it's finished printing (the printer lays that down initially as a support for the actual object).

There's my 'M'! I purposely made it look pixelly but it will print any kind of shape - rounded, square, anything. I included a little loop on the top so I can wear it as a necklace. This took about 20 minutes to print. It's about an inch wide. You can make an object as large as the printer's dimensions allow, though it takes quite a long time to print. This MakerBot model was one of the older ones but apparently they've gotten much quicker.

Later that day, I took a train to Liverpool to see an exhibition and also just to check out the city. At one point, I heard music (again, rock/metal) coming from inside some church walls which was a sensory experience I really enjoyed. There was a music video being shot inside.

Neat architecture all over the place

Some Mercer ladies' names 

Popped into the maritime museum for a gander. Found the Titanic

River Mersey from the Albert Dock. The Tate Liverpool is also found here.

I had a sleepy train ride back to Manchester. I went to a restaurant called the Soup Kitchen for an amazing meal of minty lamb pie, roasted potatoes, braised red cabbage, and a half pint of Guinness. Some of the tastiest food I've had yet!