As we all know 3D printing has been growing and progressing in leaps and bounds in the past years. I was curious to find if it would be an option to 3D print this souvenir in porcelain at the famous company Shapeways, so I wanted to explore the costs. More specifically the combination of 3D printing porcelain and then hand painting and glazing the pieces in Delft Blue, as this could be a good combination to lower production costs.
A couple of weeks ago I contacted Bonne and Saskia who have graduated from Industrial Design Engineering/Open Innovator – the program in which I teach- and now own the start-up company Fab-Creator. I hired them to help me explore the possibilities for this combination.
They were very fast in delivering results. I sent them pictures of one of the models and they made a basic file in Blender (3D software program), which they sent to Shapeways. The goal was that I could get a quote of the possible costs to 3D print 12.5 cms pieces in porcelain.
The quote came back quite high. This method could maybe serve the purpose to make unique pieces, but that doesn’t fit the requirements I have set for this project. Still, I cannot yet make a decision, so I will have to keep on exploring.
I added some pictures of the work Saskia and Bonne did to get an estimate price for the 3D print in ceramics at Shapeways.
My next visit will be the FabLab at the European Center for Ceramics (EKWC) in Oisterwijk, so stay tuned. I will be sharing that experience with you as well.