The Wallace Line Garden
Technology
- SLA
- Finishing & Painting
The Challenge
We were approached by Dave Hodson, a garden designer, who was looking to add a statue to the garden he was producing for the BBC Gardeners’ World Live 2025 exhibition. Dave was creating a garden to celebrate the explorer and naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, and his seminal discovery of a theoretical boundary between very different plant and wildlife evolutionary paths in two neighbouring regions.
Year
2025
The Process
With a limited budget Dave wanted to create a 3D printed bust of Alfred Russel Wallace to display as a focal point of the garden. We collaborated with local designer and sculptor, Joshua Roevarran, who sculpted a model from clay and then 3D scanned the bust to create a high resolution STL model. Spectacles and a hat were added at the CAD stage.
To reduce weight, we hollowed out the bust then added fixing points to allow secure mounting to a display plinth. The SLA was printed in WaterShed Black resin which combined robust, weatherable properties and cost-effective pricing. After some consideration Dave settled on a finish that would replicate a cast bronze statue. Our paint department mixed a few colours to replicate the colour depth and effect and we painted to match a bronze-effect finish.
The Result
A show-stopping centrepiece befitting such a celebratory garden. The model replicated the finest detail of the sculpture and the paint gave it an immediate impact that more than met the brief.
