Hey guys, so I've been absent for a while so lots of great posts and updates to do. Hopefully you have also been off enjoying the perfect weather too. It seems like it's been a great couple of weeks for everyone. For everyone who missed the spring 3D Printing Workshop, Luis Freeman is finally hosting another 3D Printer Workshop (Yeah!). You can sign up for one of 3 classes this fall or buy one of a limited number of printers. I believe one of them is already sold out, but the other 2 are still available. We really love his printers as they are trouble free and easy to fix compared to normal 3D printers. He also hosts the local 3D printer meet-up group so you know that you have plenty of people to hang out and use as resource afterwards. Please, remember to sign up EARLY. Luis always has a wait list.
Welcome back from another fun Acorn to Oak meeting on 3D printing. I am so excited to see this technology take off. Last week everyone put together the electronics, this week everyone put together the outside frame to their 3D printers. One of the neat things about this event is there is almost nothing I can actually name in terms of parts going into these classes. It's a treasure hunt each week in identifying and being exposed to this wonderful world I had never thought about before. While there were a lot of cool things, the two neatest things in my mind for the evening was learning how shrink wrap tubing works and assembling the base. You can see Evan working on a neat stepper motor on the right.
Once you finish your work, you wrap it in this loose plastic that when exposed to heat...suddenly shrinks. It's pretty neat stuff. While there's a lot of little tricks to assembling the outside, it's impressive when the last piece is installed or the y-axis. You can see Kevin hard at work here.
I will post more pictures on facebook after I get a chance to look through them. It's so cool to see this all come together. Can't wait to show you all more next week. It's hard to think in 2 weeks all these machines will be up and printing.
Yeah! Check in tomorrow for a really awesome surprise and the last of our 3 part series in how to build a wardrobe that saves you money.
Hey Everyone, so excited about the new space. This coming month we will be splitting our time between our normal Techshop RDU and our new expanded space team studio as we get ready for our 3D printing class in March. We will also have one class at the Durham Scrap Exchange on Feb 18th. I am so excited about this, great people one and all.
I really think that 3D replication is where the industry is headed as a whole in the next 40 yrs. and Luis Freeman is coming for 4 weeks in March to teach us to build, replicate, and program 3D printers. 3D printers allow for rapid prototyping, especially of metal. Nash and I can't wait to make our own and we hope that some of our other fellow artists can do the same. I've wanted to be able to print my own custom buttons, zippers, and hardware for my clothing. WHICH is awesome! Ok, I'm getting sidetracked in my excitement.I'm just so happy about our cool classes this spring. Note, I have decided to not hold a meeting for Valentine's Week so everyone can have fun eating chocolate and being with people they love.
Locations:
Acorn to Oak Handmade Etsy Team Studio 5825 Triangle Drive Raleigh, NC 27617
7-8 pm Finishing Quilting from the Linus Foundation: Come finish our quilts for the Linus Foundation blanket day on Feb 25th. I have 5 quilts that have been sewn together and simply need to be hand sewn at 4 inch intervals to complete them. You can also bring back any quilts you finished to put in loft and backs. We will be hanging out in the lobby of our new space and putting them together over coffee and dessert.
8-10 pm Making Origami Jewelry for Valentines: This week we will be making jewelry from the ancient Japanese art of paper folding. There are two really good books that cover this topic that I like which you can get off Amazon (the book cover pictures come from there). The first is more traditional paper jewelry making by Ayako Brodek and the second is the popular metal silver clay origami which is folded and then fired in a kiln by Sarah Cole. They will run you $10-15 each and are great investments for people into paper crafting. I will have lots of paper and jewelry findings available which have been donated so you can make your loved one something special for Valentines. Paper jewelry is often sprayed with a lacquer finish to give it strength in regular wear. Cost: Free and Open to the Public Register on Skillshare: http://www.skillshare.com/Origami-Jewelry-Making-Class-for-Valentines/1009706890
Feb 18th: Sock Monkey Making Class- Durham Scrap Exchange
For anyone who enjoyed out sock monkey making class in the fall, we will be having it again at the Durham Scrap Exchange this spring. You can check it out on their website here: http://www.scrapexchange.org/programs/classes.htm. Use EventBrite to register. There is a $10 cost which goes directly to support this wonderful institution.
Feb 21st from 7-10 pm: Techshop RDU Conference
7-8 pm: Clark Whittington with Artomat: I am really excited about this partnership with established graphic artist and designer out of Winston-Salem. He does vending art all around the country that allows local artists to reach people in everyday venues. Clark is a lot of fun and I hope this will help our artists gain more exposure in the marketplace. With over 700 artists, I feel we need to work on growing sales as a group. You can listen to him on youtube. I love this quirky fun concept and can't wait to part of it. Starting in April, 1 meeting a month will be for making art to feature in his machines. Hopefully this will help the group in many ways and be a great partnership for everyone.
8-10 pm: Using Bamboo As A Natural Wood to make Beer Mugs: Tonight we will be using the rotary turner on the laser to show people how to make cool, one of a kind products from naturally grown local bamboo donated by Mike Shaperio. Thank you Mike! Everyone is welcome to bring a design or lineart to put on their own bamboo pieces. We will also discuss other things you can make with bamboo such as rain sticks, planters, audio sound systems, vases, planters, etc. There is lots of bamboo that has been cut so please feel free to come and take some. All left-over bamboo will be available through the 28th for artists to come and get as much as you want. I can't wait to see what everyone makes.
I loved the idea of replicators in Star Trek, the idea that you could take base molecules and make them into real things. Today I wanted to show you that clothing became 3D printed this past year by designer Iris van Herpen. We're seeing a concept of plastic used as clothing this season. It's beautiful to watch and exotic. I love the idea of going home from a long day and simply dropping your old outfit in a bin to have it recycled into a new clean dress for you to wear the next day. Imagine what you would do with all that extra closet space. If you've ever seen Lady Gaga, you've seen her handiwork. The rest of us would probably prefer something more normal today. However the future is an open book. What looks normal today will probably look strange or exotic to our future descendants.
Now before you see this video as the wave of the future, this technology is still several years out (probably closer to decades) and even on these only a portion is made using a 3D printer. Most of the 3D effect is very time consuming (it took 1 printer 7 days printing 24 hrs. a day to produce even the smaller pieces)and very uncomfortable. So, a lot of the pieces are still fabricated using traditional methods and equipment with portions made with a 3D printer. This makes it more of a exotic animal than a real mainstream method.
The major drawback to this besides current technology that I see is that plastic for most people isn't that great of a material. It doesn't breath well and sewing it tends to give people headaches. Also, 3D printed parts are extremely delicate. They tend to lack the advantages of strength that weaving a garment provides. Nor does plastic last as long as most natural materials. I think either the printing time would have to come down significantly or the materials would have to improve dramatically for clothing. Probably both.
However, there are very few of these drawbacks in the accessory market (items are more static and there is less need for motion or touch). As a result you are already seeing 3D printed shoes by several houses and I predict bags as well in short order. Such as this pair which walked for Mercedes Benes Fashion Week by Andreia Chaves. I think that this is a more commercial twist that has promising trends. The guts are still handmade which shows that the technology still has a way to go...however if you're a fashion icon with money to burn you can own something very few if any other people in the world will be able to.
Today we're covering the basic 43 Pieceable Kit. This basic beginner kit features enough Pieceables to get you started making accessories: bracelets, necklaces, small bags, wallets, hacky sacks, and small flying robot space craft. The large easy to snap buttons go together easily and are machine washable. Katie is sporting a Pieceable necklace that took 10 pieces to put together.
Lots of fun! I love how it matches her eyeshadow.
One of the things that constantly suprises me about having people betatest Pieceables is that you can make a tremendous amount from a small amount of Pieceables. Here's some typical things people make with just a few Pieceables:
6 Pieceables:
Bracelet
Cat Toy
Book Mark
Hacky Sack
Pot Holder
12 Pic
Necklace
Wallet
Coin Purse
Vase
Child's Belt
Snake
Gauntlet
Shoe
Bra
And various other fun experiences. I can't wait to see what this Friday's group comes up with.
Have an idea over your morning coffee? Want to program your bag with your iPhone? Now you can.
Nash and I love to do prototyping design, especially e-textiles. For Christmas, we thought we would share our joy with you by creating modular fabric design kits called Pieceables. Simply snap the Pieceables together and program any electronics with your smartphone. Voila, the resulting art pieces are washable and can be endlessly modified to suit your taste.
We've taken a lot of the heavy lifting out of understanding various fabrics and connections to allow you to focus on the fun part of design...making. I love watching friends and family surprise me with their inventions, ideas, and coffee creations.Over thanksgiving we took a bunch home to family, a lot of fun cat toys were made. Not what I expected, but hey...if lol cats can take over the internet, then I don't see any reason they can't take over Pieceables. :-)
Over the next few Fridays, you are welcome to drop by Techshop's conference room and try out Pieceables for yourself. We are marketing these for Christmas on Kickstarter where you can pick up one of 3 basic Pieceable kits: Standard (Machine Washable/CPSIA compliant), Beginner Electronics (smartphone light programming), and Advanced Electronics (allows you to also program buttons, sound, directions, and temperature). You can also program these electronics with any computer screen in case you prefer to use a desktop or laptop instead of smartphone. Simply answer the simple 4 question order form so we know what fabrics and colors you would like shipped.
The last day to order one of the kits for Christmas is Monday, December 23rd. After ordering, simply print the gift certificate. The gift certificates may be redeemed any time in the next 6 months. We plan to start shipping Jan 1, 2012.
We hope you enjoy your Pieceables! Happy Holidays everyone. And thank you so much for your support over the past year.
You can check out the brand new website here: Pieceables
Hey guys, so I've been absent for a while so lots of great posts and updates to do. Hopefully you have also been off enjoying the perfect weather too. It seems like it's been a great couple of weeks for everyone. For everyone who missed the spring 3D Printing Workshop, Luis Freeman is finally hosting another 3D Printer Workshop (Yeah!). You can sign up for one of 3 classes this fall or buy one of a limited number of printers. I believe one of them is already sold out, but the other 2 are still available. We really love his printers as they are trouble free and easy to fix compared to normal 3D printers. He also hosts the local 3D printer meet-up group so you know that you have plenty of people to hang out and use as resource afterwards. Please, remember to sign up EARLY. Luis always has a wait list. 
