The Shapeways team is headed to Maker Faire Detroit, and they'll be sporting some of our new t-shirts at the booth. The design highlights the diverse creations of our talented community.

Featured models and designers are:
Merry Bird Ornament by Michiel Cornelissen
Steampunk D8 Die by Dizingof
Whelk by Bathsheba
Escher Knot by ShapeKays
Timer Keeper by Aeron203
Oslo Coaster by Andeshans
Bowie the Bunny by BAROBA
Demonwing by Cradders
Heart Pendant by Novaking
Fokker DVIII by WillLaPuerta
Structural Chipped Block Ring by Drscott
Plug Me In by OneManBand
The Mother Ship by Opresco
Subdivision Bracelet by Nervous System
Thistle Tea Light Cover by GHP
Gyro the Cube by Virtox

And here's a photo of the shirt worn by Ana, who will be at the booth this weekend. Come say hello!

This week while Ana travels to Detroit for Maker Faire I have chosen this weeks Friday Finds... Can you guess the theme?
Antweight Cluster Robot by PsychoFox
Mecha Ring (size 15ish in metal) by MaxSMoke777

OO-scale K8 telephone kiosk in FUD by stop4stuff
Ossuary Dice Set in WSF by Aegidian They would look HOT in silver....
Everybody PLEASE share your items when they arrive there are over 30,000 items in the Shapeways gallery now so it is getting harder for us to spot the new designs that are uploaded every day.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
Our bags are packed full of 3D printed goodness and we are all set to go to Detroit Maker Faire!
We are looking forward to meeting you there with our pre-event pizza and beer Meetup at Buddy's Pizza in Dearborn on Friday night.
See you there.

Last Friday, about 30 Shapeways enthusiasts met in Amsterdam. This made it the largest usermeeting so far! Many brought their own work, and we discussed all kinds of topics like what's going on in the company, technical stuff and how to start up a Shapeways-based business.
Many people asked me if we had already planned a new meeting, and you've made me realise we should do this more often. So: stay tuned - I'll make sure there's another meetup in Amsterdam this year. I'll also make sure there's space to present your own project next time.
It certainly was a very inspiring evening for everyone and it was awesome meeting you all. Thanks for coming, and see you next time!
If you have any amazing 3D prints like this please be sure to share them in the It Arrived forum especially if you take great photographs like these. Great work Dadrummond.
Each week with Friday Finds, we bring you a sampling of the amazing things we see in the Shapeways community. Over these last two weeks we've seen a few seriously awesome designs meant for Apple products, so I present to you, Friday Finds - The Apple Edition.
jeff's new iPad 2 Wrap, designed to work flawlessly with the cover on Apple's iPad 2.

dizingof's awesomely elaborate Steampunk iPod Dock, pictured here with a prayed metallic paint finish.

Michiel Cornelissen's simple, wonderful CableGuy keeps those unwieldy earbud cords a bay.

Looking for more? Check out the "It Arrived" section of the forum, or 3D Printspiration, the Shapeways Tumblr. Happy Friday!
The video went viral racking up nearly 5 million views so far and even flagged as being a fake..
Now Objet has released a video too getting in on the wrench action..
Kind of interesting considering the long history of use of rapid prototyping in toolmaking. Are you ready to start toolmaking with Shapeways 3D printing?
UPDATE: There was a bit of heat online about the inaccuracy of the footage between the scanning and printing process as the 3D scan was in no way used to create the model 3D printed. Check out David Kaplan's response to what must have turned into a torrent of negative responses from the CAD and 3D print community.
If you caught yesterday's Shapeways Live, I took a chance to update everyone who watched on the status of all of our material lead times. In case you missed the show, I'm back to share them with you here. Since we've added so many changes, and upped our capacity in the last couple of weeks, we're seeing improvements, but some materials are still taking more time than others.
Silver - We're currently up to speed on silver, with just a few late orders left. There's been great progress here and we're working to improve lead times further.
FD/FUD - We are 3 weeks behind on Frosted Detail materials and expect to be caught up in 4 weeks. FD/FUD is catching up, but not fast enough, so we're reworking our process with our partner, and seeking further capacity.
White & Colored Strong Flexible - There are currently no delays in Strong Flexible materials.
Polished WSF - Polished Strong Flexible is currently 2-3 weeks behind. However, this material is catching up quickly and capacity here will be increased significantly in about 2 weeks time.
Alumide - There are currently no delays in alumide.
White, Transparent & Black Detail - There are no delays in White Detail or in Transparent Detail. Black Detail is experiencing a 1 week delay. This is because our partner's Black Detail printer broke down and the interim printer moves at a slower pace. Black Detail will be back on track in 2 weeks.
Ceramics - We're behind on certain orders in ceramics going as far back as May, and we expect to be back on track in 4-5 weeks. Part of the delay is because the new, larger firing kiln was experiencing some temperature problems, which are being dealt with.
Stainless Steel, Bronze, Gold & Brass - There are currently no delays in metals or glass.
Full Color Sandstone - There are currently no delays in Full Color Sandstone.
Hopefully this helps keep the community informed, and helps you make the best decisions for your creative works. If you have further questions or comments, please share below, and thanks for your patience.
Once you have uploaded your photograph there is an option to specify Main Thumbnail Image, the Shapeways greyscale render will be called Default and all you need to do is select the image you would like to be used as the thumbnail.
Ensure you have a clear, well lit image cropped nice and tight to the object for the thumbnail image. We are always on the lookout for great designs that are well documented and we will only feature them on the front page or any other galleries if there is a suitable photograph as the thumbnail...
Ensure your images are 450x324 or 700x519 so they fill the thumbnail correctly.
If you want to sell your 3D printed designs be sure to open a Shapeways Shop and if you want to embed your Shapeways shop or favorites into another site check out the Shapeways widget.

It's that time again. Shapeways Live is tomorrow at 2pm EST/8pm CET.
I'm taking your questions ahead of time in this forum thread to help make sure I discuss that topics that are most important to the community. Materials, lead times, contests, shops, whatever.
See you there!
- Ana
P.S.
For those who may be joining for the first time, the one type of question I won't be answering is support-related stuff dealing with specific orders. Since Shapeways Live it a community conversation, I want to be sure to focus on topics that affect everyone. Thanks for understanding. :)

After Freedom of Creation and a raft of other acquisitions it is time to ask who is next? Pixar?

As the tools of manufacture become available to more people through 3D printing, we are going to see an increasing number of products that are very similar to each other hit the market/internet at exactly the same time. The whole issue of patents, ownership and attribution of ideas is also going to become increasingly complex as simultaneous innovation occurs.

We recently featured The Canon Capholder by Spruce (above right) on the Shapeways blog, citing it as a great example of a simple solution to a common problem for all photographers, be they amateur, professional or accidental. At about the same time as Spruce posting his final design on Shapeways, so to did Kitlaan on Thingiverse (above left) and Mark Stevenson on Kickstarter (bottom) having already raised $14,623 after seeking only $3,900 in backing. There was a little bit of a flurry on the social networks as to which if any of the designs were a copy of the other and it seems as though all three were developed simultaneously without being aware of each others designs.
Once a month we hold our live video chat with the Shapeways community.
That moment is happening now.
Join us at shapeways.com/community/live