You can 3D Print this Now

This is Kumiko, and the single panel can

cost anywhere from $2700 to over $7000,

making this art style only accessible to

the wealthy and

high-end businesses until now.

Want a backdrop for your office, art for

your house, a trellis for

your plants or a background

for your shelves? This video will show

you the three steps to make

your own Kumiko style panel

plus a fourth to bring

your panels to the next level.

And first we have to plan. We have an

empty space above the dining table,

so a slim but tall panel would fit

perfectly. About 4 x

2.5 feet would be good.

Once you have the rough dimensions, head

over to my Maker World page,

open the project, and customize the

frame. In the customizer,

you can input your dimensions

to generate a reference panel. When used

in conjunction with the

corresponding print profile,

you can organize which components are

needed and how many to print.

Want to skip steps 1 and 2 and start

printing now? Subscribe to

my Patreon to get access to

the print profiles for all the projects

along with the source

code. Once all the components

are organized, we can start printing. For

this project, Bambu Lab

kindly sent me their new

H2S 3D printer that came out and it's

been a huge help. I had to print over

2000 components for this

video and thanks to the H2S having a huge

print area, I could fit so

many more components on one

plate, which helps speed things up. The

larger print bed also lets

you print larger components

like this 6x6 subpanel, which would have

taken three separate

prints to create on my P1P.

What I'm really excited about is the

laser attachment, which

opens up so many opportunities

to incorporate new materials into my

projects which I couldn't

do in the past. By the end of

the video, you'll see how I used the

laser to push the boundaries of what's

possible with these panels

and bring function to something otherwise

only decorative. If you

want more information on the

printer, I have an affiliate link in the

description below.

For now, while the frame

components print, we can head over to

Kumiko Designer and

begin designing our panels.

Please consider donating to the creator

if you use their tool, I

really couldn't make this project

without it. On the website, there's a

huge number of patterns to

choose from when designing your

panel. You can adjust the colors and once

your design is complete,

you can download a PDF to get

the number of inserts needed for the

design. With these numbers,

you can head over to my insert

generator and organize all the patterns

needed for your panel.

Optionally, if you have access to the

files in Patreon, you can download the

SVG and with a few steps, generate all

the inserts in just a few

minutes. For the dining table, I came up

with three separate designs

that you could choose from.

I used six different colors in this

project, but you could reduce or change

the number of colors

as needed. Once all the components are

done printing, we can move

on to the most satisfying

step, assembly. The most important

component in the frame is

the sub panel. They interlock

horizontally with dovetails and are

joined together vertically

using inner border components.

I recommend placing superglue between

rows to strengthen the frame overall.

We can then place the border components

and tie together the frame

by adding the seam covers.

Finally, we could start finishing the

panel by placing the background pieces

and adding the inserts. While I place the

inserts, I wanted to take a

moment to shout out some wood

workers that produce real Kumiko art. So

if you want the real thing,

make sure to check out their

work. Pavel Dibrov, David Gootnick, and

Martijn Willems are all

great wood workers that make

beautiful Kumiko pieces. Additionally,

although he doesn't make Kumiko anymore,

Desmond King's book series on Kumiko is a

great resource if you want

to try your hand at making

your own. Links in the description. We

could flip over the panel and begin

getting it ready to be

displayed. On the backside of the panel

is where we'll attach the

background border pieces. This

is where we'll hang the frame from and is

also where you can

optionally add an LED strip to

backlight the panel. This is the first

time I incorporated LED

strips into my work and I really

like how it came out in the end. Using a

template, we can mark and

drill locations for the hanger,

add anchors, and screw the wall hanger in

place. I've been using

these hangers for months and

haven't had any issues but they are a bit

flimsy so if you're worried

they can't support the weight

of your panel, you can make the hangers

out of metal with the

help of this video's sponsor,

PCBWay. I sent the hanger files to be

printed out of aluminum and when they

came back, I was really

happy with how they came out. The surface

finish was great, thin

sections printed perfectly,

and I didn't have to make any

modifications to get the components to

fit with my frame. I also

made some stainless steel coasters and I

was surprised by how well

all the sharp corners and

thin sections came out. Not only can you

print in metal but PCBWay

offers a huge variety of

materials you can choose from and provide

many other services like

CNCing and PCB manufacturing

among others. Check them out at

PCBWay.com. After setting the frame in

place and stepping back to

look at what I made, there was just

something missing. I had to

go beyond. Sometimes to find

inspiration, you need to take a break. So

I went to Toronto, not

for the busyness of the

downtown core, but to take in the nature

at the Toronto Botanical

Garden. The buzzing cicadas,

the winding paths, the beautiful plants. I

found myself captured by

the beauty in every plant,

every flower. And that's when I realized

what I wanted to do. I

headed home and began working

on the finishing touches. I wanted to add

function to something

otherwise purely decorative.

So using the laser, I created plywood

coasters of the flowers and plants I

found throughout the

gardens. I added a cork base so the

coaster rests gently on the table when in

use and added a magnet

so it could attach to the panel and is

easily accessible. I also

added test tube holders which

let me incorporate flowers directly into

the piece. So instead of leaving a

bouquet of flowers in a vase,

why not try displaying them in a more

integrated and intentional way.

Thank you so much for watching. Like the

video and make sure to subscribe so

you're notified about my

next project.