3D printing jewellery with Shapeways: Halting my exploration.

Four months after first getting into 3D printing at Shapeways, I've come to the decision to stop.

It's all very interesting, and I love that I can order something that is a real life version of a piece of jewellery I created out of imagination digital bits. The only problem however, is that to get the item made real, you DO have to shell out a bit of money. And for a girl with currently no income but the interest on her savings, it's not an economically viable hobby to immerse myself in.

I mean, yes, there is a potential to make money from these things. But without the luck and the drive to get those items both seen and make them desirable enough for people to actually buy, instead of simply drooling over screenshots or photographs, it's not something I'm likely to earn enough money to live off.

Unless it's something they already want, I'm not very good at making people buy things from me via the internet. I'm finally going to admit to myself that marketing and business is not really my passion and it's not my forte - at least, not in the real world. Give me an in-game auction house filled with rich people who can't be bothered to slay little dragonwing things for eggs and I'll be loving it, but only until I realise I won't be able to pay the bills to play the game anymore.

Getting back to the subject at hand: I can keep the shop there on Shapeways open, as it currently does not cost anything to list something and it's all automatic so there is no need for the shop keeper to turn up everyday. Perhaps I will continue to upload new bits and pieces occasionally, and if anyone commissions me to design them a piece of jewellery or other object like that using Shapeways, or any 3D printing service, I'd happily put into practice what I've learned over the past few months.

But now... now is the time to acquire a proper job. One where I get to do something creative, but I get told what that creative thing is and when they need it done by and that they are paying me to do it. I'm currently thinking 3D Environment Artist for games. Some people find it boring, but those people want to be making the moving characters for the games, not the worlds in which those characters live.

Games biz. You are on my to do list.