Here’s a quick guide to some of the most amazing materials you can design and 3D print with right now.

Frosted Detail Plastic

If you’re looking for the most accurate 3D printing material, one of the best options is frosted detail plastic. We use a multi-jet process, printing and curing each layer one at a time to create high-definition designs that are perfect for model trains, miniature figures, and other small objects.

Frosted detail plastic comes in Ultra and Extreme Detail options—the latter is best for incredibly detailed features like engravings. Both versions of the material can also be painted over easily for a splash of color.

HP Nylon Plastic

We use a top of the line HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 to print strong and functional objects out of nylon plastic. It’s perfect for phone cases, camera mounts, and drone parts, but it’s also smooth enough to make jewelry, toys, and home decor.

Nylon plastic is also cheap to print, and comes in black or gray. If you’re designing with it, keep in mind that stiff, thicker objects are less likely to warp. Smaller details will also show up more clearly in black.

Aluminum

This is the only metal material other than steel that we can directly print (rather than 3D printing wax and creating a mold). Aluminum’s strength makes it an ideal choice for mechanical and other load bearing parts.  Additionally, Aluminum is perfect for bike accessories and other products that will be exposed to the environment due its high corrosion resistance. It’s not cheap to print, but it’s still not as expensive as other metal materials like gold.

If you’re designing in aluminum, remember that sharp edges on your object could get rounded down. The material also isn’t accurate enough for complex interacting parts like screws and nuts, though it does support interlocking parts.

Full Color Sandstone

If you want a multi-colored object, Sandstone is the way to go. It’s a fantastic full-color 3D printing material and it’s pretty cheap too, making it the perfect choice for figurines and lifelike models.

Shapeways special printing process for Sandstone involves creating one layer of color at a time.The finished product will look amazing on your desk or up on a shelf, though it’s too brittle to be handled on a regular basis.

Gold and Platinum

Finally, we come to precious metals. Yes, you can create gold objects with Shapeways in either 14 karat (gold, rose gold, or white gold) or an extra vibrant 18k gold option. For truly special objects, you can also choose to 3D print in platinum.

The process involves 3D printing a wax model which is used to create a plaster mold.  The plaster mold is used to pour and cast the material, and it works for platinum too. It’s perfect for creating small rings, earrings and other jewelry. Of course, gold and platinum don’t come cheap, but if you’re looking to create an extra special piece of jewelry, this is a great way to do it.

Try it Now

The post 6 Incredible Materials You Can 3D Print in Now appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

In this post, I’ll lay out an easy approach for creating the Simplest Hoop Earrings Ever. This minimalist style is already trendy in its own right, but it also serves as a great foundation for personalizing the design with digitally sculpted details, 3D printed dangling charms, or anything else you can imagine. And I used Rhino, but you can follow this recipe using any 3D modeling software.

Consider the classic hoop earring:

If we were to 3D model the seemingly simple hoop earrings shown above, we would probably need several rounds of prototyping to get the hinge and clasp to function as planned. And if we were planning to 3D print the hoops in a more rigid material like Frosted Ultra Detail or Strong & Flexible plastic, there would be no choice but to keep iterating until we got the right fit.

This next point may seem obvious to a trained jeweler, but I was glad to learn firsthand that creating jewelry in a pliable cast metal such as raw brass, bronze, or silver allows a piece to bend into and out of place without a complicated closure. So these 3D printed hoops are a simple, hinge-free design, comfortable enough to wear everyday — and to sleep in without them getting tangled in your hair.

Step 1

We’ll begin by creating a circle to establish the size of the hoop. I gave mine a 9-mm diameter, but you can make yours any size you like. Then mark the midpoint at the bottom of the circle to establish where our stopper bead will go. If you’re using Rhino, I recommend using the Point command.

Step 2

Next we’ll create the stopper bead by building a sphere at the midpoint we just drew. The size of the sphere is up to you; I gave mine a 3 mm diameter.

Step 3

Then split the circle using the sphere as a cutting object. The resulting shape should resemble the yellow curve in the screenshot below.

Step 4

Now we’ll add some mass to our hoop. In Rhino, you can select the hoop curve and call the Pipe command to create a solid tube shape with a diameter of .8 mm. Make sure you select a rounded option for optimal comfort, since one end of the tube will thread through the piercing. In Rhino this can be done by selecting Round from the Cap dropdown.

Step 5

Next, we’ll use our newly formed hoop to serve as the positive for carving a tiny notch into our stopper bead. In Rhino, we’ll use BooleanDifference (other programs call this Boolean Subtract) to cut the shape of the hoop out of the sphere, leaving a small indentation to hold the earring post in place.

Once this is done, when you select the stopper bead you should be able to see the negative space for the earring post.

Step 6

To make sure our hoop model doesn’t fuse closed during printing, we’ll have to move the stopper bead ever so slightly to either the right or left. For Shapeways brass, bronze, or silver, the clearance should be .4 mm, so I moved my stopper bead .5 mm to the left to be safe. (If you’re planning to print your earrings in another material, make sure to consult the material guidelines and design accordingly.)

Step 7

Now we’ll join the hoop to the stopper bead by selecting both objects and using the BooleanUnion command.

Step 8

The final step is to create a mesh. I used Rhino’s default mesh settings, with the slider all the way over to More Polygons.

Do you know any clever ways to incorporate material characteristics into your designs? Share your ideas in the comments!

The post How to Design The Simplest Hoop Earrings Ever appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Aleksandar Kovacevic Kiki

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia. I studied fashion design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. I am currently living back in Belgrade and working as a knitwear designer. And I am a keen 3D printing enthusiast.

And the name Kiki — where did that come from?
When I was a toddler, I couldn’t talk properly yet. And when people asked me for my name, I had to say something, and since both of my names are too long, I started using Kiki. And it stuck.

What inspired the Poly collection?
Polygons are at the core of any designed piece ready for 3D printing. So I wanted to start from one single polygon and see where it will take me. “In the beginning was the Polygon…”

The whole collection should represent the big bang of one polygon and the birth of AKK Jewelry.

Bangles Poly Seven, Poly Eight and Poly Nine

Where else do you find design inspiration?
It is an ever-changing process, but I draw a lot from the sci-fi movies that I grew up with: Blade Runner, Logan’s Run, Dune, Star Wars, Ghost in the Shell, Conan the Barbarian… Movies about lost worlds, future worlds, fantasies. They’ve all become part of my DNA.

Also architects from Gaudí to Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava, and the one and only Zaha Hadid. Speaking of artwork, there are sculptors, too: Umberto Boccioni, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons.

How did you get started with 3D design?
By chance. I had felt the need to express myself creatively beyond my job. When I realized the possibilities of 3D printing technology, I had to try it. 3D printing technology is fascinating, game changing, revolutionary.

Jewelry was a natural choice, considering my background in fashion — and the fact that we still can’t really 3D print clothes.

Necklace Poly Twelve and Ring Poly Six

What is your design process?
I don’t make sketches. Instead, I model the pieces directly in 3ds Max. This way, I find that I am not restrained by any initial drawings. Along the way, better ideas may pop up, and it would be a pity to ignore them. I let the idea evolve in real time.

When I am done with a particular design, I first order the piece to be printed in White Polished Strong & Flexible Plastic, as a trial run. Once I receive it, I make additional adjustments if needed, then order the piece in the material I plan to sell it in.

Have you designed for other 3D printable materials?
No, because from the start I imagined the pieces for the Poly collection as perfectly reflective, with a mirror-like effect. I will never forget the moment the first piece in 18k gold-plated brass arrived, and when I took it out from the black packaging bag, and it shined. My precious…

It was Ring Poly Two.

Ring Poly Two on the index finger

How did you learn to use 3ds Max?
I did a short course and I have watched lots of tutorials online. I still do, actually, because it turns out to be very complex software.

What is the future of AKK? Are you at work on future collections?
Throughout the history of mankind, people would wear a certain piece of jewelry their whole life. It was something that encapsulated them, who they were, where they came from, which tribe they belonged to…

Nowadays it’s all about Spring/Summer ’17, Autumn/Winter ’18,  only to start all over again, and designers don’t have the time to dedicate themselves to the pieces as much as they should.

I’d like to bring back that feeling from those old times, if only a little, with my future collections.

You can follow AKK on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Aleksandar sells his jewelry through the AKK Jewelry website and his Shapeways shop.

The post Designer Spotlight: Aleksandar Kovacevic of AKK appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Chang’s attempt to push the limits of this technology with her fluid, hollow forms sparked our curiosity to find out just how she does it.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m mostly retired from a career in software development and I have degrees in mathematics and computer science. I’m a native San Franciscan and have lived all of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area. Along with the 3D modeling and design, I’m an avid knitter and I also love to putter in the garden.

What inspires you to create your pieces?
I’m inspired by the shapes of everyday things around me. Ideas often come to me when I’m out walking, jogging, shopping, or on the treadmill at the gym. For example, I might get ideas from an interesting building wall, or the shape of some plant, or even food. Some other ideas come from just fiddling around with the 3D modeling software and seeing what it can and cannot do.

How did you get started creating your own earrings?
I’ve always loved collecting and wearing earrings. About five years ago, I purchased a pair of 3D printed plastic earrings from a designer at a show at SFMOMA and was fascinated with them. I started wondering if I could create something like that myself. It wasn’t until late 2015 that I began learning 3D modeling software.

What is your design process?
I keep a notebook to sketch ideas. I also take photos with my cell phone when I see something interesting in a store window or whatever, so that I don’t forget about it. I have some thick bendable wire that I sometimes play with to see how a shape will look, especially if the design has knotlike aspects.

Once I have a design in mind, I start playing with the software to get the initial design idea down. The interesting thing is that half the time, the final product is not what I originally had in mind. This is especially true with cast metal earrings, because they have to be light enough to be wearable, so I’m often scaling down or changing the design.

Which software applications do you use to create your designs and how did you learn?
I started with Fusion 360, and the designs tend to be formed by assembling various elements.  Later, I started learning Blender in order to achieve more freeform designs. I’m now also using the sculpting mode of Fusion 360 to achieve more fluid designs. I’ve also combined the two by taking the output of Blender and finishing the final product design in Fusion 360.

I taught myself to use 3D modeling software, and learning it can be frustrating sometimes.

Why do you use 3D printing over traditional methods of making jewelry?
The thing I love most about 3D printing is that one can achieve designs that are so different from anything else out there. I try to design cast metal pieces that I think might be impossible or very labor intensive to achieve with lost wax models. I have no metalwork training, but it’s on my to-do list to learn a little bit. I don’t think I would like to do lost wax casting at home, though, for fear of setting the house on fire.

I also love using the colorful nylon plastic for earrings and steel for pendants. The plastic allows me to make dramatic earrings that are lightweight and affordable. The steel has a really interesting texture for pendants and is also affordable.

What is the future of Tiny Right Brain?
I’m working to increase the visibility of the brand and increase sales. This year, I’m starting to participate in small craft fairs and pop-up shopping events. I sell in one boutique in San Francisco and I’d love to sell in a few more. Increasing online sales seems to be the toughest task because it’s hard to be discovered and jewelry often needs to be viewed up close and personal before a buyer commits to a purchase.  I’m working on improving my photography and social marketing skills.

On the design front, I still have much to learn in 3D modeling and my designs will evolve as my skills improve. I want to design a wider variety of jewelry items and other small decorative items as well.

If you are in San Francisco, you can find Tiny Right Brain jewelry at F. Dorian, on Hayes Street. Otherwise, you can find Chang’s work through her website, Instagram, Facebook, Shapeways shop, or Etsy shop.

The post Designer Spotlight: Tiny Right Brain appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

So why haven’t you gotten around to making your jewelry ideas into a successful side hustle, or start working toward a full-time career? If you’ve thought about creating your own jewelry, you’re well on your way, and Shapeways is ready to meet you halfway with its portfolio of materials and its jewelry marketplace.

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you acquaint yourself with your inner jewelry designer:

Off the Drawing Board

Deciding what to make can be overwhelming. Don’t feel pressured to incorporate every idea you’ve ever admired into your very first design.

Try placing some constraints on yourself. Choose a design element: a moon, a star, another geometric shape. Begin by sketching on paper. Experiment, noting connections between visual motifs that inspire you. Then move into 3D modeling software. I like to create basic forms in Rhino and add digitally sculpted detail in Meshmixer.

I find it helpful to brainstorm in a sketchbook and refine my ideas in Photoshop before bringing them into 3D software.

Be your own muse, and design the jewelry you would want to wear. Chances are others will want to wear it too.

prototype your design now

Establishing Your Aesthetic

Imagine that your piece will be featured at your favorite retailer. Are you drawn to jewelry there that is on the minimal side, or does it tends to be ornate? Is it flashy and glamorous, or a bit more bohemian? Would you wear this piece every day, or save it for the right occasion? You can always deviate from your answers, but this exercise establishes a framework to guide your creative process.

You can also use Pinterest or Instagram to research trends, but make sure you choose narrow search terms that reflect your interests. Otherwise you might find your initial vision is muddled by the abundance of results.

A mood board is a helpful tool for aesthetic decision-making.

It’s always a good idea to play to your strengths, so don’t be afraid to account for your 3D modeling skill level as you consider the complexity of your aesthetic, especially when you’re just getting started.

Getting Through to Your Customer

It’s great to think about potential customers right off the bat, but you’ll find your customer is easier to imagine when you have a first draft of your jewelry design. What type of person would wear the piece you’re creating? What’s their current go-to jewelry brand? How much are they willing to spend? What about your jewelry will resonate with them? Once you have developed a customer persona, you can play up elements of your pieces that are likely to spark a connection.

Aspirational imagery can have a huge impact.

Think about what what makes you buy the things you do. People tend to buy jewelry aspirationally, choosing items they believe will bring them closer to the person they want to be. They also gravitate toward items that remind them in some way of something from the past.

see your design IRL

Naming Your Price

You may be selling jewelry as a hobby, but if you’re hoping to eventually cover your rent, it’s essential to consider the cost of production from the get-go. One way to reduce costs is to thin or hollow out heftier parts of your 3D models. Keeping costs low allows you to mark up your designs without scaring away customers.

New jewelry sellers tend to undervalue their designs in hopes of attracting more customers. Keep in mind that pricing is subjective. An amount that seems high to you might feel totally reasonable to your customers. Also, remember that prices send a strong message about the quality and value of your work, and they influence how customers perceive your brand.

Instagram Was Made for #jewelry

With its highly engaged community of users and their endless appetite for new eye candy, Instagram functions like an interactive fashion magazine where you can get to know your customers and they can get to know you. Your personality is the backbone of your brand. Make sure it comes through in your photography and your captions.

Don’t be afraid to let your brand have a distinct personality. People connect strongly with a brand that feels personal.

Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post. (If 30 feels excessive, keep in mind that each hashtag is an opportunity to attract another potential customer.) Well-chosen hashtags will result in more engagement, so do some research. Start with a popular hashtag like #showmeyourrings and let Instagram suggest other relevant ones. Organize hashtag combinations in a text document on your phone, so you can quickly copy and paste them into your posts.

Onward and Upward

Having more merchandise in your shop helps you cast a wider net, and gives you more designs to promote. No one is holding you to the traditional fashion season cycle or to the notion that everything you create must be part of a larger collection.  Embrace one-offs. If you have an inkling of an idea, explore and test it right away. You might even start your own trend.

3D printing affords you the freedom to release new pieces as often as you’re able to design them. The quick production cycle makes you agile and competitive.

try it now

Video Tutorials for Making Jewelry

• Making a simple ring in Rhino: Build on this foundation by adding details and design accents in Rhino or Meshmixer.
• Basic piped ring in Rhino: Easy-to-follow tutorial that covers functions that apply to many designs.
• Using polar arrays in Rhino: Learn how to repeat an element around a circle (or other shape), which is handy for spacing design elements with precision.
• Simple trick for hollowing out a hefty ring design to save you material costs. (Note: Make sure your wall thickness fits Shapeways’ material design guidelines.)
• When you move out of Rhino into Meshmixer, you must make your model solid, otherwise the sculpting won’t work how you expect.
• Meshmixer basics: Once your model is solid, you can start sculpting.

There are many different pathways to success in the jewelry business. Beginning with 3D printing is the ultimate jewelry hack.

Ready to go pro? Get step-by-step support from two experts in our training series, 7 Critical Steps to Growing a Profitable Jewelry Business.

Wynn Mustin (Instagram: yung_crowley) is a Shapeways 3D printing engineer. She sells her jewelry designs at her Shapeways shop, STONEDALONE.

The post Hacking the Jewelry Industry appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

How did you get started?
My background is in financial services and financial technology, so I had no clue about 3D modeling when I first started. I used Photoshop, the free Netfabb, and Tinkercad for the first few designs that I listed on Shapeways. At the time, I just wanted to make jewelry pieces that celebrate my love for New York City and Chinese calligraphy. I didn’t know how to start. The traditional way my uncle, a stone setter, taught me was to carve wax. The process of wax carving is beautiful, but for the untrained it is really unforgiving and quite discouraging. It was totally not my thing, nor do I have the space for that in my tiny apartment.

That was why I took to Google and YouTube in search of other ways to make jewelry. There are many forums and blogs online about 3D design and printing. Shapeways also links to several easy-to-learn software applications to get started: Tinkercad, 123D Design…

What inspired you to create the Tea Leaves Ear Climber?
The foliage in Central Park and also drinking jasmine tea after dinner. I use real tea leaves, the ones compressed into tiny balls that unfurl once you pour in hot water. Smelling the jasmine and watching the leaves unfurl is sort of a meditation for me. Of course, jasmine tea leaves are quite long and would be too heavy for an ear climber, so I shortened them.

I wanted the design to have an organic look and have it wrap around the earlobe, so I have the bottom two leaves curve inward, as if they were being blown in the wind. I also wanted the earring to glimmer without the help of gemstones, so there are tiny veins on the leaves and the third leaf curves away from the ear a little to catch the light.

How do you create your earrings?
The ear climber was created completely in Fusion 360 and the Delphinium Leaf Studs were a combination of Fusion 360 and Sculptris. These were my breakout designs, so to speak, because I was trying to upgrade from Tinkercad and get a bit more serious 3D modeling software, and these were free programs that I decided to try first.

For the Delphinium Leaf Stud, I wanted to see if I could sculpt out details using Sculptris and compare those to what I can do with Fusion 360. I ended up loving the raw silver texture of the leaf and how organic the design looked. I’ve already had people asking if I made that by hand. I love telling people that I digitally sculpted it, but it was made by a machine. They are often surprised, because 3D printing in their mind means all these geometric shapes and industrial objects, not organic things.

I am trying Blender at the moment, which I like a lot.

Do you prototype your designs?
Not unless there’s a request for customization and the customer wants to review a prototype first. Prototype materials are a great way to see the designs in semi-finished form, but I prefer to have a model closer to the final product. I want to feel the weight of the piece in my hands, and I need to see how light reflects off of it. I am sure there are software add-ons that can simulate these situations, but I want to see and feel it. This is where my uncle’s way of making jewelry has its influence on me.

Evelyn Leung is based in New York City and continues to create inspired designs from her in home studio. You can find the designs you see here and her new pieces in her Shapeways shop, Latte A.L., or at Two Perfect Souls.

The post Designer Spotlight: Latte A.L. appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Brass Triangles Ear Cuff

Crystal Spiked Cage Ear Cuff/Ear Wrap

Belle-Inspired Rose Ear Cuff

Tea Leaves Ear Climber

Keep up with the latest from our jewelry designers on our new Style x Shapeways Instagram. What jewelry trend are you loving right now?

The post This Ear Bling Trend Is Fire appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

The team made sure to accessorize with 3D printed bling for this adventure – special shout-out to STONEDALONE’s Cassiopeia Ring (top left) and Noa’s Geometric Rhombus Ring (bottom).

Chokers

While chokers have been definitely having a moment (for a minute), we spotted some gorgeous, unexpected iterations of the classic style. Below are some great grown-up versions for any fans of the tattoo choker necklaces from the ‘90s (I’ve recently brought mine back out).

The Leandra Necklace by One Six Five

Roped In by Alter Ego Adornment

Snazzy rings and hand bling

We’re all about people thinking outside the box when it comes to rings (see office favorite the Cassiopeia) so we were particularly excited to spot some stunning statement pieces that are sure to make every gesture unspeakably fabulous. The accessories below deserve a hand (or two). And yes, every pun in this piece is 100% intended.

Ring by Tamarzizt

Turquoise Hand Bracelet by Estee Mila

Snake-Branch Ring by Paula Hagerskans

Earcuffs

There’s always going to be something exciting about earcuffs because they lend themselves to the illusion that you have more piercings than you actually do. As a girl who nearly passed out from a cartilage-piercing experience at a mall (I know, it’s so bad), really love these little jewelry hacks that let me look tougher than I am.

Catch earrings by Alter Ego Adornment

The Eyelash ear crawler by One Six Five

These trends are already well-reflected across designers’ shops on Shapeways, so we’d encourage you to snatch up the 3D printed chokers, rings, and earcuffs that will keep you ahead of the curve.

The post Trendspotting at Capsule appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

It’s the season of cold weather, scarves… and losing earrings. Fun winter fact: unwrapping a scarf is the most common way to lose an earring. Ask any earring-lover for confirmation!

One of the first things I made using 3D printing was the bubble earring design below. Everyone who saw them loved them, and I would always end up selling the ones I was wearing and making myself a new pair. Before Shapeways offered printing in metal, that involved getting a mold of the original bubbles-only, hook-free print (3D printing was expensive back then!) getting it cast in sterling silver at a casting house, cleaning it up by hand, soldering on a wire, bending that into a hook, and polishing them. Just by itself, the process of making each pair by hand took days of waiting for castings, then about an hour of work in the studio, which is not exactly cost- or time-effective. Thankfully, Shapeways makes it much easier now, as long as you start with a design file that is ready to be printed and shipped.

The lonely remaining earring

Recently, I finally lost one of my own pair (thanks, scarves!), and recreating the earring easily would mean reconfiguring the design for full 3D printing, hooks and all. I realized that this presented the perfect opportunity to go back to the drawing board and improve the design, this time using Fusion360 as my modeling software. This way, I would learn a new digital tool, while making this design fully 3D printable — and sellable in my Shapeways Shop.

The only real challenge to overcome was creating a 3D printable, integrated hook. I had seen a pair of earrings someone had printed where the hook was just an “unsupported wire,” so I wanted to test if this would work for these earrings with their long hook. If it was truly 3D printable as one piece, without any work on my part to hand-finish them afterwards, I would feel confident selling them in my Shapeways Shop.

First, I worked backwards, measuring everything on the earring I had left using my calipers, and integrating those measurements into a new 3D design file in Fusion360. Calipers could be the only tool you need for 3D printing besides a computer, so it’s worth buying the best. Accuracy is everything when going between the screen and the real world.

I measured the thickness of the earring, sizes of the circles, and the thickness of the ear hook. A standard ear hook is 0.8mm in diameter (as mine is) but you can go up to 1mm and it will remain mostly comfortable. I checked the design guidelines for sterling silver, and luckily an unsupported wire can be 1mm. I figured that after polishing it would be a little thinner, so would be more comfortable in the ear. (I was right: After Shapeways’ post-print polishing, the wire is 0.9mm thick, so there is a little material lost, as stated in the guidelines).

The remaining earring and render of the replacement earring

While recreating the earring in Fusion360, I took the opportunity to make adjustments for printability and visual appeal. In the original, there was a small gap between two circles that I know could cause material to get trapped and would be impossible to clean, so I joined them completely. I also made the whole design slightly larger and slightly thicker so they would feel more substantial and have a bit of weight to keep them in the ear.

When I solder on an ear hook at my studio, the solder forms a fillet around the wire, giving it a bigger surface area of attachment to the body. In 3D modeling, I wanted to recreate this strength, so I added a large fillet between the wire and the body. This will be the weakest part of the earring where it is most likely to break, and the fillet helps to strengthen it.

The long hook design means they hang down like dangling earrings but also have staying power. Unlike a shorter curved hook, they don’t come out easily. I added a small bend at the end of the hook to guide them into the ear hole. I also rounded the end of the wire to be smooth. You don’t want to forget this part —  a wire that just ends will have a flat profile with sharp edges, but filleting the edges to be half-round makes it smooth and comfortable to put in your ear. A good rule once you have finished a model is to go over the design and fillet any joins and edges. I will often fillet all edges, but in this case the “sharp” edge definition is part of the design, so I left them on the body. I filleted the joint and the wire end.

Once I had the design finished, I uploaded it to Shapeways and used the 3D Tools to check for wall thickness and wire thickness. Since I used the design guidelines as I was modeling, all the checks were green.

I wish we could rush metals, but beauty takes time, so about two weeks later I got the box!

The updated design, fresh out of the box

Fresh out of the box, they look great! A beautiful, even polish and a lovely weight in the hand. I immediately put them on, and realized that despite all my measurements, I had missed a crucial measurement: the distance between the curved hook wire end and the body of the earring.

The updated design, left, and the original earring, right

As you can see, the original piece has a distance between the point and the body almost twice as big as the new pair. My earlobe doesn’t easily pass in that gap and it means they take a bit of wiggling to put on. For the final, in-shop iteration, I changed this, so they’re easier to put on.

The other major thing I noticed is how soft the wire is. While it is quite easy to bend it back into shape, it leaves a kink.

An unexpected consequence: wonky wires

In the studio, I “work-harden” metal to make it rigid and stop it deforming. This is especially important for earring hooks, which see a lot of repetitive stress. There are many ways to work-harden silver. The easiest is burnishing, which involves running a smooth metal tool over the wire until it hardens. It takes about a minute and also polishes the metal.

Work hardening the wire with a burnishing tool

Since I had bent the wire I needed to straighten it too, quickly done with a set of parallel pliers. Squeezing the wire like this also work hardens it, but it’s not as effective as burnishing.

Straightening the wire with pliers

Once that was done, the earrings were perfect! All in all, I’m really happy with this experiment. And, if someone bought them, they would be pleased with them even without work-hardening the wire hooks.

After receiving the earrings, I shortened the hook in the design to make the earrings easier to put on. Here are the finished earrings, with the shortened hook:

Finally, they made it into my shop!

Now that we know how we can integrate hooks right into the design, what kind of winter-proof earrings will you make? Have you tried making hooks an integral part of your design?

The post How I Made It: Lost Earring, Found appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Leaves Butterfly Pendant

This butterfly pendant exists of four leaves that form the butterfly. It’s elegant and feminine. It looks absolutely gorgeous in polished brass or silver and goes with any holidays party dress.

Rose pendant

This pendant is a small highly detailed rose surrounded with leaves on a curled wire. The pendant is shaped elegantly and is perfect for women of all ages.

Flower earrings

These wireframe earrings are inspired by the shape of flowers, and stand out because of their size while still being lightweight. The earrings are very comfortable to wear and are great for women who love to have notable earrings but want to avoid weary ears.

Teardrop shaped earrings

These teardrop shaped earrings have a complex shape that can only be produced with 3D printing. The earring is detailed with a complex outer shape containing two subtle hearts and with a little drop on the inside of the earring. While the details of the shape are very unique, the outer contours confirm to the standard shapes used in jewelry.

Bracelet of 36 squares

This elegant bracelet consists of many connected squares that can move separately. It’s a great example of the amazing, unique pieces you can make with 3D printing. Each square contains a little space that can be decorated, for example, with hotfix stones.The closing mechanism is easy to use and prints with the rest of the bracelet.

Tie clip

Tie clips are perfect gifts for the man whose only jewelry is a watch (and already has too many of them). This stylish tie clip suits the fashionable men and its unique shape lightens up every tie at an affordable price.

The post Holiday finds: Unique 3D printed jewelry appeared first on Shapeways Blog.