I thought I’d take this chance to just look at what goes into making an item…
…as the title says – its not all about 3D printing – it’s no good just being able to print anything and everything, its the finishing that makes the difference.
I have always painted and decorated my own accessories – furniture, kitchen wares, ornaments and plates, but now that I design and print most of what I need, my hand decorating skills have become even more important!
You can see here that once I have designed and printed the elements for a dressed item, they still have to be cleaned up and the printing support structure removed before I can prime and decorate the surfaces.
The items pictured above give a good idea of just how the decoration makes the final product… I use a variety of techniques to finish pieces from hand painting, applying decals (of my own design and making) and other applied details.
For example: I print all the carved details around the top of the library bookcase and apply them to the wooden shelving unit before painting and decorating the bookcase before individually hand painting all the books on the shelves and adding them one by one to the bookcase. On the Pagoda clock the whole carcass is printed – but I then hand paint all of the chinoiserie detailing on the panels. My doll range features new dolls with much more animated expressions and fully shaped hands and fingers (not the ‘mittens’ you see on porcelain dolls).
This brings me to think about a discussion I had with the Kensington show organiser last year, about how the new technology is impacting the miniatures market – and how we need to communicate to our customers that this is just a new manufacturing process.
Miniature artisans still have to design and make the 3D prints – and most importantly they are still finished by the artisan by hand. 3D printing is is just a new tool to produce amazingly detailed miniatures – and that’s great for both the artist and buyer!