Nanopublication — Wood PLA as Medium for Folkloric Materiality

Context

Wood PLA (polylactic acid composite with wood fiber content) presents a deliberately hybrid materiality: thermoplastic polymer infused with wood particles that create grain-like visual texture and allow wood-finishing techniques. This material liminality—neither traditional wood nor pure plastic—creates conceptual resonance with the yōkai subject matter, entities that exist between categories (human/non-human, visible/invisible, material/immaterial).

The Geeetech Wood PLA filament used for this sculpture contains wood fiber particles that become visible during printing, creating surface texture that mimics wood grain without being actual carved wood. This pseudo-wood character mirrors the noppera [1]-bō's pseudo-human appearance: something that presents as familiar material (wood, human face) while fundamentally being otherwise (composite plastic, faceless void).

My finishing process bridges digital fabrication with traditional craft approaches:

1. **3D printing** using fused deposition modeling, where the wood PLA filament is extruded layer by layer to build the form from digital coordinates 2. **Hand sanding and polishing** to smooth layer lines and reveal the wood-fiber content in the material surface 3. **Wood patina application** using traditional finishing techniques to deepen the wood-like appearance and add color variation 4. **Wax finish** to seal and protect the surface while creating subtle sheen

This hybrid methodology—computational design, automated fabrication, hand finishing—reflects my broader practice of working **between** traditional and contemporary making modes. The sculpture emerges from algorithmic precision but concludes in manual, tactile engagement with material surfaces.

The final object exists in productive ambiguity: it reads as "wooden" from visual distance due to grain-like texture and warm brown coloration, but closer inspection reveals its composite nature—the slight sheen of thermoplastic, the geometric regularity of printed layers beneath the hand-worked surface. This material uncertainty supports the conceptual content: an entity that appears one thing while being fundamentally other.

The black cylindrical base and metal support rod provide material contrast, anchoring the wood-like figure in unambiguous industrial materials and creating formal hierarchy: the yōkai form emerges from clearly contemporary infrastructure, much as folklore persists within contemporary cultural consciousness.