3D Plastopic continents?

I was'nt quite satisfied with the flat display of the continent. What if i actually formed a 3 dimensional plate?

Came across this interesting technology of 3-D printing and plastic painting by artist Rachel Goldsmith. She created beautiful lines and details with the use of a doodler pen that melts plastic pigments temporarily, allowing artist to manipulate the plastic.

It was a little pricey to actually own one of those pens. So i figured i could experiment with a hot glue gun perhaps?

Plastic straws seemed to share the similar width as that of a glue stick, hence i attempted to liquidify a straw using a hobby glue melt.

Guess what, the straws melted but never made it out of the glue gun T.T Took me ahwile to figure out that a hobby glue gun did not melt beyond 148 degrees. It took more to melt the straws.

Well, i learnt my lesson the hard way as the glue gun was not salvageable anymore :C

Started looking at ways i could DIY my own plastic melting pen. Came across a very interesting video of a guy melting a plastic coat hanger using a high watt glue gun.

So, i invested in a 35 bucks glue gun from Ebay which heated up to 220 degree celsius. And voila~ The results were amazing!

Well i did start of with some problems:

1) Firstly, it took about 30- 45 minutes each try for the straws to be melted before it started to liquidify.

2) I attempted to quicken the flow of plastic by pushing more straws in. It only resulted in the jamming of the glue feed barrel.

3) I attempted to use glue sticks to push the straws too. The glue melted way before the plastic could.

SOLUTION:

I was lucky enough to find a wooden stick that fitted right in the glue gun barrel! I had to allow the straws to be melted in the barrel and all i had to do was push the stick in and pipe the plastic out.

It was quite a pain to try creating long strokes as the waiting time was just.......... And the previous plastic piped out would have cooled down and solidify before i could attach them to anything.

Creating short strokes like the image below was the best way to create a 3-D structure.