Owl Container

This is a remix of the owl ‘Zun’ wine vessel from the 13th-12th century BCE from the Minneapolis Institute of Art made available on Sketchfab under CC0 license.

From their website:

Zun is a type of bronze wine vessel used by Shang-dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) aristocrats during ritual ceremonies to honor their ancestors. This owl-shaped zun is divided into two sections: the removable owl’s-head lid and the bird’s hollow body. Vessels shaped like animals constitute virtually the only bronze sculpture known from the Shang period. Besides this owl, vessels in the form of buffalo, boars, rhinoceroses, elephants, and rams have also survived. This owl is one of the oldest and most naturalistic of the few remaining owl-shaped zun. Its form exhibits the influence of the Shang capital, Anyang, in the North, but the style and casting technique of the vessel (the indentation on the interior walls corresponds to a relief found on the exterior) indicate that it is related to the bronze tradition of the middle Yangzi region in southern China.Zun is a type of bronze wine vessel used by Shang-dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) aristocrats during ritual ceremonies to honor their ancestors. This owl-shaped zun is divided into two sections: the removable owl’s-head lid and the bird’s hollow body. Vessels shaped like animals constitute virtually the only bronze sculpture known from the Shang period. Besides this owl, vessels in the form of buffalo, boars, rhinoceroses, elephants, and rams have also survived. This owl is one of the oldest and most naturalistic of the few remaining owl-shaped zun. Its form exhibits the influence of the Shang capital, Anyang, in the North, but the style and casting technique of the vessel (the indentation on the interior walls corresponds to a relief found on the exterior) indicate that it is related to the bronze tradition of the middle Yangzi region in southern China.

My changes to the original:

I opened the animation in Blender to extract the 3D models for the owl head and body. I joined the head and body, used Meshmixer to remove internal surfaces and add new internal surfaces offset by 2mm, generated a new cut at the neck and then used Blender to make the new inset and lip for the head. I also cut a little off the feet so they would be flat.

Printing:

I used a silk bronze rainbow PLA from XZN. The owl is just about 7 inches tall. Since the parts are printed separately (due to different support settings), you can print these on a small printer. I printed mine on the Bambu A1.

I printed the body first, then the head since I was using a gradient filament and wanted it to be continuous from the body to the head. Feel free to print on the same plate if you are not using a gradient filament.

The body and head are printed with:

•  0.20 mm layers, 2 walls, 15% grid infill. 
• the body has tree supports at 30%, 2 top interface layers, top z distance = 0.2, and top interface spacing = 0.
• the head has grid supports with top interface spacing = 0.5 since the inside of the head has a horizontal surface.

The head is a little bit of a snug fit--just twist it while inserting and pulling out. I realize I should have added a cylinder to the top of the body to make a clean straight inner surface with the interface with the head, so I might do that. I also plan to use the texture maps to increase the detail on the owl. Otherwise, it's adorable for storing away some little things!

Generic 3mf on Printables.