We are excited to announce Faberdashery filament is available to buy at the iMakr store in London. This is pretty big for us, as it is the first time we have put our filament into a physical retail space.

The store is located in central London and occupys 2,500 square feet across two floors making it the largest 3D print store in the world. Last night Faberdashery was at the grand opening. It was great to feel the buzz and excitement in the store as people took in the variety of printers, materials and accessories on offer.

We are excited by the chance to give greater accessibility to our filament. So come and see touch and smell Faberdashery at the store!

Kuma Crafts caught our eye recently with their gorgeous 3D printed jewellery. The husband and wife team specialize in jewellery, apparel and plushes inspired by Japanese culture. Until recently Kuma Crafts produced most of their jewellery using layered acrylic. However when they realised the potential of 3D printing they decided to incorporate it into their production techniques. A lot of work has gone into getting the jewelllery to the high standards Kuma Crafts have set for their products.

Stan Velijev of Kuma Crafts explained ‘After a lot of experimentation and tweaking, we finally have consistent high quality prints that we’re happy to sell. Faberdashery’s PLA is the only one we’ve found of high enough quality to be used for jewellery. The gold has just the right shine with a little sparkle, and the diameter is of extremely even consistency so we never have filament jams or irregularities in smooth surfaces. Faberdashery makes a premium product which yields premium results.’

Thanks Stan! We love what you have done with our filament and can’t wait to see what you do next.

Faberge eggs have been a source of delight and intrigue since the first one was created for Czar Alexander’s wife in 1815. Each of these spectacular Easter gifts housed hidden surprises ranging from bejewelled miniature replicas to a singing bird in a gilded cage.

Inspired by the Faberge legacy we are running a competition to find the most inspiring and surprising 3D printed Easter egg. Like Faberge, you have complete freedom in the design of your egg, with the only prerequisite being that there has to be surprise within each creation. You can design your egg from scratch or re-mix existing designs or simply hunt though Thingiverse for the most crazy/brilliant/lovely thing to put in an egg. We don’t mind.

Two prizes are up for grabs: (1) Best Technical Interpretation, and (2) Most Creative Interpretation. Each winner gets £50 to spend on Faberdashery filament and big love from us! To enter, simply upload your design to Thingiverse with the tags ‘Faberdashery’ and ‘Faberge’ by 12:00 GMT Tuesday 2nd April, so get your wiggle on! We will announce the winners on Friday 5th.

Legal stuff: The prize is non-transferable and cannot be redeemed for a cash sum. Vouchers will be provided which can be used to purchase Faberdashery filament through the Faberdashery website store to the sum of £50. Vouchers must be spent in a single transaction and cannot be redeemed across a series of separate purchases. Vouchers are valid for a year from the date of issue.

Credit: Design- Customizable Easter Artistic Eggs by Joe Stubbs.

MakieLab, the have just launched their iPad app. The pioneering London-based doll and games company, utilises 3D printing technology to offer customisable action dolls. Now their ‘Makies Doll Factory’ app allows you to create you own unique 3D printed figure from the comfort of your iPad. As you’d expect from MakieLab, it’s beautifully simple with great attention to detail plus a few quirky characteristics.

The launch of this app is another landmark in the trend towards accessible 3D content creation. As 3D printing technology becomes more pervasive, we’re seeing the emergence of tools that engage with people in a far more immersive way. The new genre of easy to use, low cost (/ free) 3D content creation tools opens 3D printing technology to a wider audience of enthusiastic non-specialists.

MakieLabs having been pushing other boundaries this month, adding three new flesh colours to the SLS Nylon dolls. Makies have also become the first ever 3D printed toys to be toy certified. That’s pretty big! It’s been a great start to the year for 3D printing

This weekend Team Faberdashery are at the 3D Printshow, London’s first expo dedicated to the world of digital manufacturing.

Day one highlights ~

Wow, what an awesome 1st day! There was a good mix of companies- covering everything from the arts, very high end industrial products, to the personal 3d printing market. There was a great buzz around Ultimaker’s stand, where finished prints were being ‘ejected’ out of machines towards the amazed onlookers. The charismatic Brook Drumm of printrbot showed their range of compact and foldable ‘Jr’ machines, that are super cute and desireable. When I approached Formlabs, the crowd was 4 people deep (!), so hope to get hands-on tomorrow.

What really excited me was the many smaller groups and individuals I chatted with. Peter Goodwin, director at Artbot, is looking to use 3D printing to enable new possibilities in Kinetic Art following BEAM principles. I can’t wait to see these creations! It was really inspiring to meet printcraft, who passionately demoed 3d prints being pulled from their custom Minecraft server. Watching how accessible this gaming environment makes content creation to young people, highlighted the key challenges and opportunities in the industry. Equally, the team from Black Country Atelier were brimming with enthusiasm, bringing this technology into education to empower the next generation of makers.

Two more days of fabbing fun ahead!…