During my time at Shapeways, Friday Finds has been one of my favorite parts of each week. Taking a little time to stop, clear away the rush of the day, and concentrate on the beautiful, weird wild creativity of the community. Your skill and ingenuity is taking 3d printing to the next level, and I've loved having a front row seat. 

So without further ado, here are a few choice pickings from this week in the Shapeways community: 

Benny's Bonsai, shown here in White Strong & Flexible.

Modesty's Starlamp, an awesome cover for your motorcycle headlight, in Black Strong & Flexible.

wjv's Penholder Particle, a friend to those who are lost without their Moleskine. Shown in Red Strong & Flexible.

Just a couple of the ingenious things coming through the Shapeways community this week. Remember, there's way more to be found in the "It Arrived" section of our forum. Happy Friday!

Cunicode's lovely Bump Bangle, shown here in Red Strong & Flexible 

FrankNScale's New York Style Subway Kiosk, a familiar sight for those of us who frequent the Astor Place train station in New York. Shown in Frosted Ultra Detail.

Michael Mueller's Reality Ring, an existential statement, and a great piece jewelry convenient rolled into one. Showed in polished Silver.

Dario Scapitta's Black Widow Armand, from his new Black Widow Collection, shown in Black Strong & Flexible. Check out his shop for more!

During SXSW last week, I caught up with David Noel, Community Evangelist at SoundCloud, to talk about the launch of the The Vibe. We discussed what happens when creative communities join forces and combine their mediums of choice (3D printing and sound). Naturally, we recorded our conversation with the SoundCloud app and uploaded it. 

Check it out! 

Lately the gentle roar of the Shapeways printers have been churning out more silver than ever before. This week we sent out scores of jaw dropping silver designs and saw it reflected in the "It Arrived" part of the forum. And so I bring you the Silver edition of Friday Finds. Prepare to be amazed...

cadop's Real Heart Pendant 

vertigopolka's Silver Snub

Skull Ring (shown here after oxidation) from SG Designs

Valiant Pendant by SaGa 

Putting together Friday Finds this week was really hard for me. The quantity of beautiful, creative things coming through Shapeways has just gotten to be overwhelming. I want them all. Am I complaining? Not even a little.

If you're browsing casually, just know that we're only scratching the surface here. The genius that is the Shapeways community cannot be captured in one weekly round up. Please make sure to glance through the "It Arrived" section of the forum, and check through Shapeways shops.

Happy Friday!

vaclav.mazany's Blossom Ring in Silver

Kugelelephant by yoogy, in White Strong & Flexible

printedCat's Chimaera Greek Vase in White Strong & Flexible

kiorodesign's Tails ring, in Gold Plated Stainless Steel

Yesterday we recapped the Baltimore-based Shapeways meetup. Today, we're excited to welcome the member-led LA Shapeways Meetup to the family.

On Saturday March 3rd, SoCal Shapers will be gathering at Marmalade Cafe at 4783 Commons Way # E, Calabasas, CA. LA is famous for being a driving town, and sometimes that means its hard to connect, but it's also filled with a vibrant community of animators and designers. This will be a great chance to meet others and learn how 3D printing is helping them power their business, or grab tricks and tips for getting up and running.

The meetup is being run by none other than Lincoln Kamm (aka novaking), a longtime contributor to the community, and one of the coolest dudes around.

So RSVP here, and don't miss out!

This past Thursday night in Baltimore we welcomed the Mid-Atlantic Shapeways Meetup. As we've been mentioning, this is the first member-led Shapeways meetup to show up on the scene, and I was pumped to travel down from NY and help kick off the festivities.

About 35 people gathered at The Baltimore Node hackerspace. The crowd was awesomely diverse, between members of the Node, local designers, hardware and software hackers, students and professors from Towson University's Object Design dept. People excitedly showed off their work and some of the students from Towson even helped one member of The Node set up his desktop 3D printer. Someone serendipitously dropped off snacks, and Michael Rosner, the Node's resident photographer generously jumped in to take photos with his awesome DSLR (check out the album!).

Hi guys, I'm pleased to tell everyone that we're now accepting uploads to Shapeways, and the forums are back.

There are other smaller features which will be experiencing odd behavior, and those are being restored in the coming hours and days.

A huge thank you for all your patience and support.

Hey everyone, a quick update to the technical difficulties we are experiencing. At this time we have a solution that will probably take 1-2 days before we are completely up and could take a maximum of 4 days in the worst case scenario. We are working around the clock and hope to be up and running again on Monday.

We'll keep you posted on a 24 hours basis, or when new info becomes available that changes that timeline.

Many thanks again for your understanding.

Keep an eye on the blog and Shapeways twitter.

Maryland-based Mike Williams (aka youknowwho4eva) has been a pillar of the Shapeways community since late ‘08. When he’s not pitching in as your friendly neighborhood forums moderator or helping others develop their skills, he’s dreaming up wild new things to make, from gadgety machine parts, to his more recent endeavors with organic shapes and  classy jewelry concepts.

Cheat Sheet:

Hello friends! Friday's here and so is a quick look inside the ever-churning creative machine that is the Shapeways community. Enjoy!

The Astronaut Pedant in Stainless Steel is just one of modesty's line of space jewelry for boys. Check 'em out!

Even though we're no longer Valentine's Day orders, Novastar's Oh My Heart pendant in Red Strong & Flexible is really cool take on a traditional shape.

saad alayyoubi's Scarab Ring is simply gorgeous. Shown below in Gold Plated Stainless Steel.