Designer and miniaturist Kacie Hultgren, who goes by the design name Pretty Small Things, has played a crucial role this past year introducing a architects and scenic designers to DIY 3D printing, as well as teaching 3D printing enthusiasts about fundamental techniques for architecture and design. She shared a bunch of her recent research results and technical methods on a series of posts at MakerBot.com, and continues to innovate and explore new territory including printed wearables, new furniture effects, and jewelry.
She tells the story at her new miniatures store for how she got started experimenting with DIY 3D printing:
I’m a scenic designer in the theatre industry. Building model furniture has always been one of my least favorite activities and I’ve always been frustrated by the cost, shipping time and lack of variety in commercially available products. In the fall of 2011, I started playing with desktop 3D printing as a model building tool. I wanted to develop a line of furniture that encompassed all the typical shapes I need on a recurring basis: armchairs, sofas, side chairs, a variety of tables, etc. I started with my Queen Anne collection, and continue to build on my designs to include more historical periods and styles through a combination of 3D scanning and CAD modeling.
Today is Ada Lovelace day! Celebrating the achievements of women in science, art, design, technology, engineering and math! Ada Lovelace Day is about sharing stories of women — whether engineers, scientists, technologists or mathematicians — who have inspired you to become who you are today. The aim is to create new role models for girls and women by celebrating amazing women making and doing cool things. If you’re looking for a worldwide Ada Lovelace Day event? Please visit the Finding Ada events page. Be sure to check out all our posts today and from previous years here of amazing women!
Today everything in the Adafruit store is 10% off, just use the code ALD12 on check out, use this code to pick something special person in your life that will spark her imagination for a lifelong career or hobby!
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!