Earthsymbols

3D printing was new to me and when I received my first printer in 2019 I wasn't quite sure where to start. For a few months I printed Minecraft figures for my kids, a soap dish and some vases for flower. After tinkering with CAD software I realised that I didn't have to rely on pre-built models any more. I could create my own! That is when I started designing my pendants.

The pendants start their life as a long reel of PLA wood filament. PLA stands for poylactic acid, it's a thermoplastic made from renewable sources like cornstarch or sugar cane. This means it's a 100% renewable and recyclable material. It breaks down in landfill and won't take a hundred years to do so. It will take about 6-12 months to fully decompose. But, as a printing material it is very strong and durable. This PLA also has an added extra. Wood fibres have been added to it so the finished piece will feel and look like wood, it can also be sanded, stained, dyed, painted and varnished like wood.

Once I have designed my pendant and worked all the computer wizardry to take it from a computer file to a printing file, it goes to my 3d printer. At the moment I am using an Anycubic Mega S. This magic machine takes a spool of PLA filament, heats it up and using FDM printing, creates layer upon layer of the melted filament. After a while, these layers have formed the 3d shape that I have designed. Some prints can take 25 minutes, some can take over a day!

The next stage is to add the resin. I mix the 2 part resin with colours and mica pigments and pour it in. It takes about 3 days to fully cure. After that is the final assemble of the jewellery piece, adding chains, clips, clasps or pins to end up with the finished product.

From start to finish, each pendant can take around 5 days from computer file to finished product.

Finally each item is lovingly wrapped and shipped, to make its way to you!