Previously designers using Shapeways had to work with what to many would be considered inferior materials, but to some exciting and unique like

To celebrate the inclusion of silver in the material range I thought we might take a look at some contemporary, digitally manufactured jewelry designs using a broad range of materials.

Starting with Shapeways community members Nervous System with their algorithmic excellence.

Ted Noten who's series Haunted By 36 Women is the result of a one year survey through the world of women. Featuring: the Fashionista, the Icecream Girl and the Femme Fatale. To produce the works he created full scale assemblages which he 3D scanned and then translated into a range of experimental, 3D printed jewelry.

Arthur Hash from State University of New York, New Paltz Lectures in Digital Fabrication in Studio Arts and has a prolific practice embracing many digital techniques. Keep an eye on his blog to see new works and random inspiration.

After a brief intermission filled with trade fairs, flu and flights we return to our regular friday feature of the latest amazing models to be shared on the It Arrived forum by the Shapeways community.  If you would like to be featured next week be sure to post your clear photographs and descriptions....

First up and quite mind blowing is the Minime by Tristan Bethe from a full body 3D scan. Can't wait to see the results of the 3D scan of his wife in her wedding dress!!

Stunning first attempt at 3D printing is the Pilot and accessories for an Remote Controlled Mustang by Lupus. Amazing level of detail achieved using Softimage XSI and Zbrush with clean and clear detailed prints.

The first silver prints have started to be shipped with Václav Mazaný's Holey Ring showing the polished finish you can expect with Shapeways silver.

Attention all architects, interior designers, furniture makers and anyone who has come up against the build envelope of White Strong Flexible, you can now supersize your 3D prints...

Now any models that are larger than the previous limit of 230 x 180 x 310 (WxDxH mm) will be sent to a new machine in our SLS arsenal that can print up to 700 x 380 x 580 mm or 27.6 x 15 x 22.9 in or approx. 7 x 4 x 5 MakerBots.

So if like Scott Summit you are in the business of prosthetic limbs you can now 3D print them with Shapeways.. Or if like furniture designer like Chris Hardy you can 3D print your furniture components without having to break down the parts into sections to fit the build chamber. If you are an architect or interior designer you can 3D print scale models for client presentations, sales centers and architectural competitions.

Check out this video behind the scenes at Aardman and what went in to making the world's smallest character animated film using 50 3D printed models, hand painted with microscope and tweezers.  The models were printed at only 9 mm in height which according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Dot is the smallest model of her type, and was shot using a Nokia N8 to celebrate the Cellscope.

Note: This does not mean it is ok to do all your images & videos on Shapeways with your cell phone!!

Warning! May come across as a Nokia advertisement but it is still worth watching.

Thanks to Time Compression blog.

Embedding algorithmic aesthetics into structural logic.

Michal Piasecki and Małgorzata Mozolewska collaborated on “Structural Ornament”

For the project Michal developed the algorithmic software that has an arbitrary shaped mesh as an input. The user is then able to assign external forces upon which the software then conducts a series of steps to generate a 3d printable infill responsive to the forces present.

An outcome of this is a 3-dimensional array of voxels, each containing data on the forces and displacement. This data is used to generate a grid of points which becomes denser where forces are greater. Then the infill is generated based on this grid, thus it becomes responsive to the forces present.

Ever wanted to know just how strong 3D printed full color sandstone was but did not want to destroy one of your own prints?  Now you can see just how surprisingly tough it really is at it is submitted to the hammer test by Kaetemi. I love the YouTube tags: Shapeways, 3Dprint, Hammer, Destruction. Say is it all.

Perhaps we will need to make some videos for ourselves of material tests, model fails, and just general destruction?

Feeling the need for rodents hanging from your earlobes? Then have we got a treat for you..

Rat Earrings by Martynas are disturbing yet delicate, creepy but cute, the perfect accessory for your halloween outfit or a christmas gift for the macabre one in your life.

Most of the Shapeways community would be considered on the high end of tech savvy, with the ability to generate 3D models in CAD, the initiative to seek out and use a site like Shapeways to realize their ideas and the entrepreneurial spirit to commercialize those ideas using Shapeways to handle the financial transaction, manufacture and distribution of their products.

Those of you who have installed Google Analytics into their Shapeways shops can now see where your traffic is coming from and can work to promote your designs to those that are showing interest.  What you may not be able to see is the overall trends emerging of how visitors to Shapeways are finding the site.  To share a little with you we are seeing increasing, significant and constant traffic from Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Those of you who have been embedding your YouTube videos into your shops we are now tweeting each of the videos you now upload onto the site from our @Shapeways account. YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the internet so it is well worth creating a video and embedding links to your shop making sure you use a descriptive title and add more details about your product in the description.

You can also tweet each time you purchase yours, or anyone else's product on Shapeways using the Share It button upon confirmation of your order. You can also share your gallery of favorites using the same button.

Shapeways currently has over 2000 followers on Twitter including members of the Shapeways community like  @4m3d, @VirtoxNet & @JakeMDrews along with industry DIY/mass customization/co-creation peers like @makerbot, @Josephflaherty & @joepine to design heavyweights like @johnmaeda and a large group of press and marketing types from bloggers to print journalists keeping an eye on the products, people and processes Shapeways is tweeting about.

Be sure to follow @Shapeways and tweet about your designs, and we will add you to our twitter list of Shapeways users, retweet to our followers, and from time to time we will have special offers for our twitter followers so keep an eye on the feed.

A crew called Electromagnate out of the Chicago's hackerspace Pumping Station: One are putting together a documentary that explores the state and direction of the Maker and Hackerspace movement in America entitled ReMade: The Rebirth of the Maker Movement.

 

Cool to see the process from CAD to CAM through to final firing, with the combination of traditional and digital craft techniques. Something we are seeing more and more is the integration of digital processes into traditional craft and the participation of non-craftpersons through access to these same tools.

Congratulations to Spinfaces with his naughty but nice Bathroom Santa! winner of the Christmas Co-creator Contest.

Showing a great sense oh humor as well as multiple levels of customization including:

• Customize images on book cover
• Customize text and font on book cover
• Customize short note on books pages
• Customize text and and text color of base

Ever wanted to point a friend to a showcase of some of the coolest designs on Shapeways but you didn't want to send them 12 separate URL's? Or make a gallery of the 10 best puzzles from Shapeways to put on your Facebook wall?  Or an easy way to send a page of a few of your own designs to a retailer? Or just provide a list of cool things to your loved ones so they will know exactly what to buy you for xmas from Shapeways?

Now you can now easily share your Shapeways favorites.

Maker Faire New York was a huge success for Shapeways with thousands of new potential users flocking to our stand to check out what Shapeways is all about, the models, the materials, the people.  We had a chance to get to meet some members of the Shapeways community and we also picked up the Editors Choice Award for our third Maker Faire in a row...

We also managed to get yet another mention in the New York Times in an article looking at the continuing rise of 3D printing. Taking Maker Faire New York as an example with the amount of 3D printing represented being indicative of an ever growing wave of popularity.

Very Cool....