Crafts & Things

[Sponge]

@Luna Unless you do a ton of weird crafting or have a lot of little plastic car dashboard/console pieces or appliance nobs and buttons you're not going to save money with it or profit. For most people that have one it's a hobby and not the tool of a profession. When you get it dialed in it's tons of fun.

It also opens possibilities beyond printed plastic. You can easily print plastic things, finish them as desired. Then, you make a silicone mold and you can cast resins, chocolate, ice, anything not high-temp. If you're bout-it bout-it you can do sand-casting to make actual metal parts. I have a close friend who's collected pewter dragons since age 4 and I aspire to make some custom ones if I can ever get some 3D models I like for the purpose.

If anyone takes the plunge let me know. Your first enemy will be your longtime foe: First Layer Adhesion. I can save you some agony here.

[silentsophia]

I think it sounds interesting. Maybe one day when I have an awesomely huge hobby budget.

[Quibbler]

@Luna

Maybe there's a makerspace nearby or even a library that has one?

[Luna]

There's one around here somewhere I'm sure.

[thebird]

@Sponge
Way belatedly...
One of my best friends just got a job at a 3D printing company... His first task was to create his own office supplies.
I'm beyond jealous.
3D printing is very dope.

[thebird]

Speaking of hobbies and such...
Does anyone here have a Patreon account? Has anyone heard of Patreon, even? It looks pretty awesome, potentially, and I was thinking about joining up, but my brain is not storming as much as I would like!

[silentsophia]

I've heard of it, and mostly seen web comics people using it. I haven't used it personally, so I can't say. My budget is kinda tight to throw money at people atm.

Also, I am discovering that while lace yarn is pretty, it's making my hands all kinds of angry. I thought I'd make my friends a gift, but augh.

[surreality]

@Sponge As for the plastic models, you can also use metalcoat on them pretty nicely, which is a lot less expensive in most cases than recasting. Check the metal coatings on sculpt.com for some drool fodder along those lines.

I haven't used them myself, though I keep planning to -- I have a pile of shells to attack with them in my case I'd like to coat and patina -- but I would imagine you could do a lot with those. One of them even allows for burnishing and buffing, which is pretty impressive when you think about it!

Edit: I'm up to my neck in yarn and stitch markers at the moment. Oh god. One week until show. Big show. Many people. Head, meet desk. One year ago I went to this show, saying, "Huh, I wonder if I could get some things to play with dyes on!" and this year I'm selling stuff through my teacher's booth. "Slow the fuck down" is apparently not a part of my destiny in this lifetime.

[Glitch]

That is seriously one of the most awful websites I've seen in a long time.

[Cobalt]

Oh, wow. That's like old old old schooooool website. Like something I would done when I was in middle school.

[surreality]

Isn't it? It's been like that for decades with no updates at all -- which probably explains a lot. (The last time I ordered from them actually was in the 90s and they had the same site then.)

They have many neat things, though!