This past Wednesday, November 11th, we invited our community members and local NYC Makers to join us for a DIY Holiday Gift Making party at our office to try out our newest creator apps and CustomMaker. Using these DIY-ers that want to try their hand at making gifts with the latest in 3D printing can make a keychain or a pendant for their friends in a snap!
“It was great to host a 3D making party. Seeing the excitement of our community members when they discovered how easy it is with our new tools to make perfect gifts is amazing,” said Pete, our CEO. “Enabling anyone to make amazing products is what we are all about. ”
“My friend and I had a lot of fun at the Shapeways maker party,” said Ruth Gallogly, a communications and marketing consultant who works with creative brands like Shapeways. “My friend is building her own fashion business and was blown away by how she could upload a 2D print to the Shapeways site and design a pendant from it without knowing a thing about 3D modeling. After seeing everything she could make, she can’t wait to take things to the next level and work with a Shapeways designer to create custom designs. And we both loved the selfie statues. Getting scanned and watching the scan get rendered into a 3D, full color replica of yourself, and all in less than five minutes, was the coolest thing. It’s like getting a mini action figure of yourself!”
Notable Maker Paul Lowe, Editor-in-Chief of Sweet Paul magazine was in attendance as well. He and his buddies not only made keychains and pendants but were also 3D scanned and will receive little 3D selfie figurines of themselves to enjoy as holiday cake toppers or just fun conversational pieces to have through the holiday season! “I’m blown away by the possibilities of 3D printing with Shapeways, I can see so many uses… from weddings to parties and crafts to gifts…. the future is 3D printed!”
As we’ve talked about before, 3D printing has opened up new ways to be creative for so many industries and groups of inventors, designers, and artists. At Shapeways we know that EVERYONE has a creative idea they are eager to bring to the physical world. Professional quality 3D printing is the perfect emerging tool for all creative ideas and holiday gift giving is a great time to try new applications and materials.
Our creator apps give new makers easy tools to get started and customize all sorts of 3D printed products right on our site. Anyone can turn a design they’ve sketched out in 2D into a custom pendant, keychain or more in just a few steps. Perfect for those who want to make something special for the holidays, but don’t have the time (or maybe patience) to deal with the ins and outs of traditional 3D modeling software.
For those looking for something even more simple, clicking the “Customize” filter in our marketplace will bring up all the products that can be personalized before ordering. Whether you want to add a secret message or fun image, you can customize a ton of products already on Shapeways!
And don’t forget, we’ve added to our more than 50 materials and recently introduced Porcelain into the marketplace. It’s your best bet for finding beautiful, unique home decor items this season.
As Black Friday/Cyber Monday gets closer, everybody is starting to think about holiday gifts. This year, surprise your friends and family and make them a custom 3D printed gift they’ll love forever. Be sure to keep our material cutoff dates in mind, as we have our own Santa Elves working hard 24/7 to print, polish and pack your gifts for on-time delivery under the tree!