Today we are going behind the scenes to give you an update from the production line! We hope you will be happy to hear that all the cups are made and work on the saucers has begun (Image 1).

The saucers are rolling out!

We have finished loading the final cups and the first batch of saucers into the bisque.

We have been testing for glazes and are working on design and production of decals for the cups and saucers. Things are rolling on! Make sure to stay tuned for more updates as delivery grows nearer.

Loading up the kiln for a bisque fire.

We are making fast work of experimental production to find the best ways to produce the final cups for delivery to Washington D.C.  Today I am including images of production I have been working on for both the Republican and Democrat cups and some explanation of the images and my process.  We hope you enjoy some insight into our creative world.

– Helen Otterson, Ceramist and Cuplomacy Design and Production

Democratic Cup:

The 3D prints were delivered. While the prints are high quality, they require a little sanding to smooth out the ridges.

Casting begins! I decided to start the cast at the base, so I turned the cup upside down, covered it in clay, allowing only the base to show, and poured the first part of the mold.

The first piece has set. I flipped the cup upright and remove the clay, revealing the cup.

Multi part mold in process.

The finished mold with the 3D printed cup.

Here are the stages of design. The white cup was our first print to verify size and form. The black cup is the finalized form scaled up 12% to allow for shrinkage of the clay. Due to the twist in the cup the mold ended up being an 8 part mold.

Republican Cup:

Beginning the cast for the Republican cup, starting at the base.

 The sides are clayed up leaving a 1/3 of the side revealed for pouring the first side of the cup.

Post pour and clean up of the first side of the mold.

Getting ready to pour the second side of the mold

Ready to pour the last side.

The finished mold with the 3D print.

The white cup is the scaled prototype. The black cup (next to the final mold) is the prototype scale up 12% to allow for the clay shrinkage.  This mold proved to be much easier due to the clean vertical lines of the cup, no undercuts to worry about.

Today we started printing the final master cups for molding. We are working with  Dr. Bashir khoda, Assistant Professor in the Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Dept. and his team of PhD students. They have a couple different 3D printing machines but we decided to use their Dimension because we felt it would give us the best result for the master prints.

Before printing all the cups and handles we did a single test print which can be seen below. We think it will take some sanding and refinement during the molding process but it should give us a good result.

We also needed to work through some file translation problems but with the combined effort of Dr. Bashir, his team, and myself we were able to make sure our digital files were print ready. Now to let the 3D printer do its work.

– Peter Atwood

The prototyping process has been very interesting and revealing as we are able to quickly test the actual look and feel of the cups we are designing. We soon realized that although being able to visualize the cups in digital three dimensional space our sense of scale in this space was thrown off. Our original prototypes needed to be scaled up considerably. We went through about three iterations before we were satisfied with their scale and proportions.

We are now ready to begin preparing the digital files to be printed not as full scale prototypes but rather as masters for the molding process.

– Peter Atwood

Once again the Cuplomats are out on the town gathering opinions from people around the Fargo-Moorhead area. The next few weeks we will be working on visiting classrooms at North Dakota State University to encourage college students to participate in the project and share their ideas.

I set out visiting a few American Government classes in the past few days and have had some pretty fantastic support from the students there. Many of these students are interested in the project and we have even had some students show interest in helping out with Cuplomacy as a Cuplomat!

Pictured below is a photo of some students sharing their ideas on the questionnaires. Many of the students provided valuable feedback that Michael and I have reviewed and found incredibly interesting. It is great having young Americans participate in the project and many of them have shown their support for the idea of human interaction and change.

We hope to have many more classrooms participate in the future from throughout the University in a variety of classes and fields. Maybe we will be stopping in your classroom next!

Best,

-Sarina Sandstrom

The Cuplomats are back to share some very exciting updates! Since the Studio Crawl engagement opportunity Michael has been having participate in the project by filling out questionnaires all around the country as he visits different programs and institutions. These thought and opinions have really added a national element to the project and broadened its reach which is wonderful!

On December 2nd I had the pleasure of visiting Riverview Place, a retirement community in Fargo, ND, and collecting the thoughts and opinions of the residents there. This was such an amazing experience and some of the thoughts I encountered were wonderfully surprising. The residents loved to share their pasts and how they feel about the current government and how it is working.

Many of the residents explained just how powerful they think this project is and what they have learned about facilitating compromise throughout their lives. I have to say their ideas were some of the most influential and compelling yet! Below is a photo of the amazing residents completing the questionnaire.

I also had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful Pastor who is loved by everyone at Riverview and around Fargo for his enthusiasm and passion. He took me under his wing and helped encourage the residents to participate and share their true feelings. This wonderful man is pictured below helping encourage participation. Michael and I are looking forward to having the Pastor be a continued part of the project as a Cuplomat himself. We are always so pleased to have people take to the project so strongly and allow us to have them join our team. Everyone is valuable to this project!

Keep checking in with the project as we continue to engage with different parts of the community in the coming weeks and share the experience with you.

Best,

Sarina Sandstrom

Welcome to the first of many updates regarding the Cuplomacy Project and the exciting engagement opportunities that we are pursuing. Our questionnaire that we share throughout these opportunties was designed specifically to encourage everyday Americans to share their opinions in a constructive way and to inspire the project to carry the voice of the people.

On October 4th and 5th the wonderful cities of Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota hosted an event called the Studio Crawl. This event offered the community an opportunity to visit and view studios and spaces around town where local artists create their work, and also provided a wonderful opportunity for our “Cuplomats” to collect valuable opinions via our questionnaire design.

Michael Strand and intern Sarina Sandstrom set up a space in the Plains Art Museum, a beautiful creative venue in the heart of downtown Fargo. Throughout the weekend members from all around the local community viewed the beautiful art in the museum and stopped by our station to share their opinions on the current political system and how it is or is not working. Pictured is a photo of Michael sharing a conversation with community members who are completing the questionnaire.

Everyone we met had unique and valuable opinions that helped transform the project and provide it with a powerful community voice. We were frequently moved by the words and thoughts people shared and reveled at the creative and compelling analogies that members of our community came up with to convey their feelings.

We even had people explain their effective ways to facilitate compromise visually by drawing intricate and interesting charts and animations. Pictured below is an example that a young community member produced while visiting with the Cuplomats. It is young people like this that inspire us to use the voice of the people to further the Cuplomacy project.

We look forward to engaging with the community in many other ways in the near future and collecting the opinions of the folks in Fargo and around the country.

More updates to come soon!

Best,

-Sarina Sandstrom