Cholla Lamp combines my love of architecture, the Sonoran Desert, and the shop. This project started with a question: what would happen if I were to mimic the lost-wax method of bronze casting using a 3D print in lieu of a wax model? The skeleton of a cholla cactus seemed an appropriate subject for this investigation given the long history of bronze casting at Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti in Arizona. 3D prints were modeled to taper in thickness from top to bottom to explore the limits for this novel bronze casting technique. The resulting casts display a jagged bottom edge where the limit was encountered, lending Cholla Lamp the organic form and weathered texture of the cholla skeleton that inspired it.