Derby Encouragement from Kai Wener

Sagan has gotten lots of touching messages and words of encouragement regarding The Orville 3D Printed Derby Car. This is one of my favorites– from the day of the derby:

Cork Kitty Model on Thingiverse

Now that Maker Faire Nova is behind me, I am aiming to get my Upcycling models up and available to download for the community. This model preexisted my recent Maker Faire Nova efforts. I designed this Cork Kitty as a companion piece to EHM’s Cork Puppy back in the summer of 2015. They have been popular at Craft Fairs and black cats are particularly popular at Halloween.

Cork Kitties - Group

For me, I found the model to be an unintimidating way to ease into painting prints. The raised details of the face lend themselves well to painting. I find brushes geared for miniature painting to work well. I use Majestic Royal and Langnickel Short Handle Paint Brush Set, Detail, 11-Piece (Affiliate link).

I typically make the eyes green and the nose and ears pink. You can add paint to the whiskers. A dark grey looks particularly striking on black cats. I have done custom orders on Etsy where we mimick the markings to real cats.

I had a friend put a slice through the cork to hold labels describing all the dishes at a Halloween party.

Occoquan Craft Show - Eight Black Cork Kitties
A Friend Used a Set of Black Cats as Buffet Labels for a Halloween Pot Luck

Although they are made from wine corks, I have found them to have appeal to children. They love playing for them! Happy making!

IMG_20151212_135056884
Children Playing with Cork Kitties

P.S. If you don’t have access to a 3D Printer and covet a Cork Kitty, you can purchase one from me on Etsy.

Cameo on 3D Printing Nerd Trailer

This morning I was watching Joel Telling’s new channel trailer for the 3D Printing Nerd channel and suddenly I was surprised to be looking at myself! Check out his trailing. I come in around 2 minutes and 46 seconds.

Blender 3D Printing by Example – Published and On Sale!

Greetings All! Working with Packt, I wrote a project-based learning book to teach Blender for 3D Printing. It got published last week! I decided my return to YouTube should be called, “You Guys, I Wrote a Book!!!”.

The book walks through four separate projects to teach Blender tools and skills.

Profile Pendant

  • Background Images
  • Bezier Curves
  • Extrude
  • Boolean Union

Coordinate Bracelet

  • Standard Shapes
  • Mirror Modifier
  • Boolean Difference
  • Text

House Figurine

  • Loop Cut and Slide
  • Extrude
  • Inset
  • Subdivide
  • Array Modifier
  • Using SVGs
  • Boolean Intersection


Human Hand

  • Subdivision Surface Modifier
  • Topology Edits
  • Proportional Editing
  • Materials
  • UV Maps

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BUY MY BOOK! I am already very happy as is. If you do wish to have a copy, you can purchase the book on Amazon.

What’s next for me? I have a long list of videos I would like to make. I’ll be working on my proposal and projects for the MakerFaireNova on March 18, 2018. I will also be helping with the East Coast RepRap Festival which is looking like it will be in late June. Also don’t forget to check out the Friday Night 3D Printing Community Hangouts . I’ve been known to show up from time to time. 🙂

Failed Prints Put to Use – Monarchs

I had two monarch butterflies that both lost their antennae. I sent a quick tweet out to the community and offered them up as free to a good home. The Learn 2 Teach program at South End Technology Center quickly volunteered. They used them in a “Migration is Beautiful” display… and wow. That display is beautiful. I should get them to stage all my craft show booths!

Blogging the trials and successes of 3D Modeling, 3D Printing…and trying to make a business out of the whole thing. : )