3D printing jewellery with Shapeways: Two months in.

It's been two months since I started playing around with Autodesk 123D and Shapeways, so here's the second report of what I've managed over the past month.

CharGyse 3D Printed Designs - Find these and more at www.shapeways.com/shops/chargyse

My first shipment of items arrived from Shapeways about a week later than it would normally take (production of sterling silver pieces was behind schedule on their end). I've been waiting to post this update so that I could include the photos of them.

Photos of the earrings and pendants
These are the photos I took only minutes after unpacking them from the box. I have updated the shop images with close ups, so you can follow this link to the [SHOP] if you want to see the close ups of them all.

Earring pendants in Sterling Silver

Earring pendants in "Frosted Ultra Detail"

You can find these earring pendants in the Earrings section of the shop.

Necklace pendants in Sterling Silver

Necklace pendants in "Frosted Ultra Detail"

You can find these necklace pendants in the Pendants section of the shop.

Bangles to go with each set
I got the bangles done on time, doing two different designs; the second more dainty than the first.

The "SevenBangle" style - one bangle, but with seven pretty sides to it

The "DiAngled" bangle - shaped like two bands attached to each other at an angle

You can find these in the Bangles section of the shop.

Blender renders for a quick preview of the pieces

I did a little searching around and found a video tutorial on how to make a golden material in Blender. They've disabled embedding by request, but the link is here: Realistic Gold Material Tutorial Blender 2.62 (Cycles) 

I followed the video but changed the colour I used so that it would look less like gold and more like a silver material. Here are some quick screenshots I took of some stuff:

Oh yeah - I also modelled a little something up for the Shapeways "Flextest" challenge

After the first shipment arrived though, I realised that I would need to change the Blender material textures. I remember seeing a "Brushed Steel" texture tutorial somewhere, which could be handy in achieving the layered look of the silver pieces - if I can find it again.

COMING SOON:-

Beads
I have managed to get the beads modelled up - but I've yet to upload them to the Shapeways site.

Rings
I haven't managed to do the rings yet, but I have decided how I'm going to do them. The ring band will be based on the DiAngled bangle style (the dainty, minimalist, second style above).

A new collection of designs - in "Stainless Steel"
Looks like the series based on Fibonacci numbers is going to go on hold for a while. Instead, I will be working on "Stainless Steel" versions of everything I have done so far, which should work out cheaper than Sterling Silver. Good for those who want a metal pendant, but at lower prices.

Marketing and Selling Stuff
Now that these are things that exist, I have to get them noticed out in the wider world with marketing materials and stuff.

3D printing jewellery with Shapeways: One month in.

I've been playing around with the Autodesk 123D Beta and Shapeways for just over a month now, so I wanted to write a little report of what I've managed over the past month.

Tumblr



I've created a tumblr blog especially for images of the growing mountain of jewellery that will be generated over time by me. Follow it and eventually you will see photographs of the pieces up there as well as the computer generated renders of the designs before they have been printed.

Pendants



I've designed, modelled in CAD software and uploaded nine designs for pendants, and each has been listed publicly and are available for sale in both sterling silver and a translucent plastic known on the Shapeways site as "Frosted Ultra Detail".

Click Pendants to see them all.

Earrings



I've modelled matching pairs of earrings for each of the nine pendant designs, again in sterling silver and Frosted Ultra Detail.

Click Earrings to see them all.

Cuff-links



I've also designed and modelled the matching pairs of cuff-links for each of the nine pendant designs, available only in sterling silver, and a glossier sterling silver for a little extra [the cuff-links are polished/buffed before they are sent to you].

Click Cuff-links to see them all.




COMING SOON:-

Photos of the earrings and pendants

Yesterday I put through an order for all of the earrings and pendants designed so far. They should be shipped by April 18th at the latest so I should have them ready for photos by the end of next month. I've been looking at potential models and photographers for a shoot, but nothing has been decided just yet...

Bangles to go with each set

My "homework" for the next week is to get ready the matching set of bangles for sale - that's designed, modelled AND uploaded. Thankfully, my experience with the software I'm using has grown a lot over the past month and I'm now able to complete such tasks a lot more quickly and efficiently than I could in the beginning.

Charm Beads

I've been looking into creating the designs on a much smaller scale for charm beads, potentially in the threaded charm bead style or the Italian charm bead style... We'll see how it goes over the next month.

Rings

To complete the collection of each design, I will be working on ring versions for each design this month. I have no idea how I want to do it yet, but I intend to make them fit in with the rest of the collection in sterling silver and possibly Frosted Ultra Detail. We shall see.

A new collection of designs

We've been having lovely weather in Cardiff over the past week, and all that nice weather made me ditch my laptop for the little 2 by 3 inch notebook I made a while back. I had to make sure I was doing some kind of work while I enjoyed the nice weather during my self-enforced work hours, and ended up drawing up some nice designs based on circles and Fibonacci numbers. Keep an eye out for those in the next couple of months. Here's a sneaky peek:



I'm really looking forward to next month!

My First Nine Designs for 3D Printed Jewellery

17 days after checking out Shapeways, I've got a collection of 9 designs uploaded:

Each charm is available in Silver, Glossy Silver or a plastic material they have called "Frosted Ultra Detail".

They are available for sale separately, so you can buy one on its own to hang and wear as a necklace, or buy multiples to hang from your own earring hooks or string together to wear as a bracelet.

Fancy yourself a bit of a fashion or jewellery designer? Buy a variety of them and incorporate them into your designs, mixing and matching with other beads and materials however you like. All of these are 3cm by 3cm and quite thin, with four corner holes, each hole 4mm in diameter for cord, thread or wire to be threaded through.

I'm really happy to see items bought from my shop be combined with other materials and used as part of your own jewellery or fashion designs to be sold at markets, online or offline, just be sure to leave me a photo or a message linking to it so I can see what you've done with them!

You may wish to modify the charms with paint or other treatments to add your own personal touch, or leave them in their natural state. Shapeways has a forum section dedicated to Post Production Techniques that you can check out for tips and ideas. Go wild, it's up to you! :)

Click here to check them out in the Shop!

Using free Autodesk 123D Beta to design Shapeways models for 3D printing

I'm excited. Really excited.

The other day I was introduced to the Autodesk 123D Beta. The software is Computer Aided Design [CAD] software that allows you to design 3D models. It's also free to use at the moment... Here's a work in progress I'm working on today:



After a little bit of browsing, I found out about Shapeways. Shapeways is a website that allows you to upload .STL and some other file types containing models you've designed, and get them to print out your design in 3D in various materials, including Plastics, Metals, Ceramics, Sandstone and Glass. The price you pay depends on what price the material is per cubic centimetre, and how much material your model uses up.



Shapeways also allows you to open up a shop of your designs and place a percentage markup on the design. Whenever someone purchases a 3D print out of your design, Shapeways holds this percentage for you and sends it to you at the end of the month.

This means I and all my friends who have 3D modelling skills [CGD, I'm looking at you!], can be uploading model designs for objects for other people around the world to buy on demand.

Essentially, it's a Passive Income Stream. You put the effort in to make one model, upload it, and do some publicity, and there you go. If people want the model, they'll be buying it while you sleep.

Like I said; really excited.


To keep up to date with my new designs and artwork via Facebook, check out my FB Page at CharGyse Art & Design and give it a Like!