This was a project I completed for a 3D Design class on the abroad program I participated in in Budapest, Hungary. The program was AIT, or the Aquincum Institute of Technology, and the 3D Design class was created by Ernő Rubik, creator of the Rubik’s cube.

I began this project by creating a 3D model of a duck. From this model I generated front and side views of the duck, which I printed out. I started the straw model by creating a single side view layer of the duck, and then spent dozens of hours meticulously cutting and hot-gluing every single straw to build up layer upon layer of straws, constantly referring back to the side view print-outs. Just how long did it take? I listened to all of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina while completing the duck.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t fit the duck in my suitcase on my way back to the US, so it lives in Hungary, among a zoo of other colorful straw animals.