Evan and Katelyn are more than just a couple we want to be (or at least hang out with), they’re also expert DIY-ers whose experiments and projects are a magic combination of both ambitious and doable. In their Austin, TX garage-turned-workshop, the married makers create and share projects that range from incredibly cute to purely practical. We were lucky enough to recently get a look at how they brought a pyrite-inspired jewelry project into the world with some help from Shapeways (and opened their own shop along the way!). Check out the video below, stop by their shop for some Valentine’s Day gifts, and read on for the scoop on how the creative couple met — and how they stay sane working together.
You two are obviously relationship goals. How did you meet?
We met the first day of class freshman year of college. We were close friends for all of college (who occasionally had crushes on each other haha) and kept in touch pretty much every day after graduation, even though we were living in different cities. We hung out again for the first time about a year after graduating and we were both single at the same time for the first time in years. About a month later we started dating, and about a month after that we started looking at rings. 😉
The original 3D model of the Pyrite ring
SO romantic. Did you start DIY’ing together early on or was it something that grew after a while?
We started DIY’ing pretty much as soon as we moved in together. The first project was our L.O.V.E. marquee letters, which we started making for our wedding before we were even engaged, working on them with only a cheap jig saw and a hammer on our tiny apartment balcony. There were a lot of DIY’s from that time onward ’til the time we got married: some projects for the wedding, and some projects for the house we bought, which was a bit of a fixer upper.
What’s it like working not only on your DIY projects together but also the awesome tutorials/videos/blog/all the socials?
It’s awesome! We make a good team in a lot of ways. We can divide and conquer, but also we have our partner/best friend/awesome coworker to bounce ideas off of.
Anything to add about the pyrite-inspired jewelry you designed in the video?
This may not be what people guess, but doing 3D printed jewelry designs was actually Evan’s idea! We’re always looking for ways we can turn our making into a business so that we can make this our official jobs, and Evan’s got the 3D printing brain of the operation. He actually discovered Shapeways long before we started making YouTube videos, we’ve just been waiting for the right design to pop into our heads. We love things that are a mix of geometric and organic, and pyrite is exactly that, so it was the perfect inspiration to spark some design ideas. We’re working on some stud earring designs to go with the set too!
Prototypes of the Pyrite ring printed on Evan and Katelyn’s home 3D printer
What’s your favorite thing you’ve worked on together?
Probably the marquee letters! Simply because it was the first project we did and we were so dang proud of how they turned out. Still are!
How did you have time to plan a wedding AND DIY those amazing letters? Asking for a friend… who is me.
Haha, a long year-and-a-half engagement definitely helped 😉
Any advice for couples looking to launch projects together?
I think the biggest thing is get on the same page about what you want and why you want to work on a project! Is it to save money? To be able to build something custom? To have fun in the shop playing with tools? One person’s goals may be different from the others, and it’ll be easier to make decisions together about the “how” when you’re on the same page about the “why.”
For more of Evan and Katelyn’s DIY projects and inspiration, hit up their Shapeways shop, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Instructables, Etsy, Blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter. We told you they had all the socials.
The gorgeous finished product, printed by Shapeways in, from left, polished brass, polished bronze, 18k gold plated, rhodium plated, and polished silver