If you’ve just moved to a new city and you’re bored and don’t know anyone, most people would join a sports team or perhaps head to their local pub.
What they don’t usually do is print out life-size 3D seagulls to place around Aberdeen and see how people react.
But that is exactly what one new Granite City resident – with a sense of humour – decided to do.
But…why build 3D-printed gulls?
Feeling lonely and bored in a new city, an aspiring product designer and YouTuber known as Dyoramic had an idea.
He had only lived in the north-east since May after moving from Abu Dhabi, but already the infamous chip-snatching seagulls had caught his attention.
“I remember an old viral video of a seagull stealing a bag of crisps, and then I moved here and I understood why seagulls were such a big topic of conversation,” said Dyoramic, who runs his YouTube and social media channels anonymously.
“When I had the idea to make something to place around the city, I thought seagulls would resonate.”
Dyoramic has a bit of an unusual hobby – 3D printing, and he likes to share his skills.
“Lockdown was really pretty strict in Abu Dhabi,” he said. “So when we were eventually allowed out to exercise again I had the idea of giving people something to look at.”
He started 3D printing objects of all kinds and leaving them in public places for people to find.
“I’d hang around for a bit to see how people reacted to them – that’s the best bit,” he said.
“Making these things is much more enjoyable when lots of people can see and enjoy them.”
How to 3D print a seagull
As far as hobbies go, 3D printing isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap.
Items must be fully designed in 3D on specific computer software before pressing “print”.
At that point, a long roll of plastic is loaded into the printer which carefully melts and shapes the plastic to match your computer design.
“As a template, I started out by taking photos of a little Lego seagull I have,” said Dyoramic.
By photographing it from all angles it allowed him to scale up the model on design software to make the printed gull truly life-size.
“Because of the large size I needed to split it up and print bits separately and work out how to piece them together.
“Then I used filler to cover up the joins and painted them to look authentic.”
It took two days to physically print each gull, on top of weeks spent designing, planning and painting.
Then it was time to let them loose in the wild.
Where are the gulls now?
The hard work was over and it was time to release the gulls, named Betty, Bernard and Barry, onto the mean streets of Aberdeen.
“I wanted one to be on Union Street as that is the centre point of the town,” said Dyoramic, “so I choose a phone box outside Marks and Spencer.
“I also really like the Esplanade at the beach and there are lots of real gulls around down there so it seemed like a natural sort of home for the other two.
“It’s easier put them out in the early hours of the morning, about 3.30am when there aren’t people around.”
Then, he went back to bed for a couple of hours before returning to watch what happened next.
Watching people enjoy the models is the best bit, according to Dyoramic, though it can be nerve-wracking.
In the past, he has gone back to find his creations smashed up all over the pavement, which is disheartening, but for the most part members of the public are very positive.
The downside is that sometimes people love his models so much that they take them home.
“I try to have the mindset that each thing has a life of its own once it goes out,” Dyoramic said.
“I’d much rather someone took it home and had it on display in their house than for me to go back and find it in bits on the floor.”
The first gull (on Union Street) lasted less than 24 hours before it disappeared.
One at the beach made it to a week and the third and final gull lasted nearly two.
“I’ve got lots of ideas for things to do in the future,” he said.
“There are obvious things like Christmas but I’d like to do a treasure hunt one too… though in future I might need to start putting them in harder-to-reach places.”
Conversation