Every Product Page on Shapeways has a Favorite button to the right so that you can let designers know just how awesome they are.  The Wishlist Button helps you to keep track of the 3D Printed goodness you want to have and hold.  Clicking either button will send love to the Feed, so everyone can see what 3D Printed products are popular at any one point in time. Let's take a look at the 10 most popular 3D printed designs for the past week in order of popularity from number 10 up to number 1.

10. Death's Head Hawkmoth Skeleton 

The iPhone 5 Design Contest is now over and we are 3D Printing some of our favorites right now (HINT: you may have seen them exposed in the feed) but Apple have just released the specs for the iPad Mini so it is time to start designing for the next range of Apple Fanboy Accessories.

You can download the specifications for the Wifi Version and Cellular Version from the apple site (yes, they are ever so slightly different but you may be able to make a design to fit both).

SO, what shall we do to get you all designing some cool new accessories for the iPad Mini?  

What applications do you see for this device that the iPad is too big for and the iPhone too small?

What is the point of differentiation that Apple is aiming for and can you amplify that difference with your design?

Tag Your designs with Apple, Fanboy and Ipad Mini so we can find your designs and we will find a way to reward your creativity.

Thanks to Core 77 for pointing the way to the specs. 

We have seen the popularity of the 3D Printed Success Kid meme as it has made it's angry way across the internets but did you ever wonder how it was actually 3D modeled?  

Did he search the world for the child and scan it with Autdoesk's 123D Catch? No.

Did he use Facebook's creepy face recognition software to find multiple views of the child to be stitched together to create a 3D model? No

Did he use Sculptris (FREE), zbrush and a Wacom tablet to 3D model this from scratch? YES...

Check out the video of how Ryan Kittleson 3D modeled the Success Kid .. 

There's one thing that a Shapeways shop owner loves (almost) as much as sales, and that is data. A few weeks ago we introduced an improved 'My Sales' page. Today, we're improving the Sales Overview Download (XLS) and it is full of data. The Sales Overview Download (XLS) is going to allow you to see exactly what models you're selling in which material, when it has shipped, and which country it was shipped to. With this data you will be able to create your own shop analytics which can help you improve the performance of your shop.

We will of course be improving the tools on your Shapeways Shop page to make it much easier for you to have insight into what is selling in your shop so you can optimize for sales.

If you do not already have a Shapeways Shop it is easy to set one up. It is free, and you can start making money from your designs while Shapeways takes care of sales, fabrication, distribution and customer service.  

All you need to do is design and promote your products, we will do the rest...

We first launched our Material Sample Kit over two years ago and much has changed since then. We have more metals, more colors, more finishes with MUCH more to come.  To make room for all of these new materials we are introducing a whole new range of 3D Printing Material Sample Kits to Shapeways.

The Basic Kit for $29.99 will replace the current kit and contain:

• White Strong Flexible (nylon)
• Alumide 
• Stainless Steel
• Full Color Sandstone
• Black Detail (Acrylic)
• Frosted Ultra Detail (Acrylic)

You will also receive $25 3D Printing Coupon to get you started with the new materials.

The Colors & Finishes Kit priced at $19.99 is for you to get your hands on the latest colors and finishes (hence the name) including:

• White Detail (Acrylic)
• Polished White Strong Flexible (Nylon)
• Polished Alumide
• Black Strong Flexible (Nylon)

• Coral Red
• Royal Blue
• Hot Pink
• Violet Purple 

The Metals Kit for $79.99 includes a range of our metal finishes including:

• Polished Bronze Stainless Steel
• Sterling Silver
• Polished Gold Plated Stainless Steel 

For each material in each pack you will also receive a material detail card with specifications, limitations and recommendations. This, along with the samples will help you to design for each specific material. 

As we roll out with new materials and colors over the coming months we will include them to the relevant sample pack and you will be able to order each sample individually to add them to your sample kit. 

You can take a look at our 3D Printing Materials Page now to see each of the materials, their prices and properties then order your own 3D Printing Material Sample Kits to see, feel and smell the materials for yourself. 

Short answer, no, 3D Printed nylon is not microwave safe.

We were testing the water fastness of our dying process, the usual office experiments of soaking it in a glass of hot water for a couple of days (looking good) and then we wanted to dry it quickly, but maybe we dried it a little too quickly.  

As per the WSF material page the 3D printed nylon is dishwasher safe and heat resistant to 80c / 176f degrees, clearly the microwave was a little hotter....

Sorry for melting your Rodin Pendant Nat, I will print you another one.. 

Over the past few weeks we have seen a number of 3D printed items get a lot of attention on Reddit driving massive waves of traffic to some Shapeways product pages including Little Sad Keanu, Mario Mobius Strip and most recently the Green Lantern inspired ring by Lensman. Below is a chart of what it looks like when a design becomes popular on Reddit.

If you submit a link to your design on Reddit you have the chance of exposing your designs to thousands of people and increasing the sales in your Shapeways shop.  We know of one Shapeways user who made the daily average of their annual salary in one day of sales on Shapeways when their design was going viral on Reddit....

We look forward to seeing your designs on Reddit soon.