As I mentioned in my previous post, the GR Maker Faire was last Saturday, August 19th. The Faire included everything from people making cosplay outfits, homemade jewelry, woodworking, illustrations, robots, and my personal favorite, 3D printing.

There was an amazing turn out, especially since we were one of the first few booths near the entrance of the Grand Rapids Public Museum where it was held. Though there were some quiet moments, most of the day our table was surrounded by people that were asking questions about 3D printing technology, and taking photos of our prints.

One of the best parts for me was watching the faces of children light up as they saw my prints and looked to their parents to say “Look it, Pikachu!” It was awesome having so many children try to name all my different creations. Also, as it has been at previous events, the Majora’s Mask print definitely drew in a crowd too. Overall, I had a great response to my work from both adults and children alike. I was surprised by just how many people were actually interested in purchasing my work. Unfortunately at this time I don’t have the ability to mass produce my prints, but I did have people take my business card for now. If I only get a handful of serious purchase requests, I should be able to handle it. So far I haven’t gotten any follow ups, but at least I know there was interest. I also learned which prints were the most popular so I may make multiples of a few of those prints so I can sell those at the next show. Out of all my prints, the most popular were Pikachu, Eevee, Porygon, Groot, Chip, Wall-e, and the Majora’s Mask.

Along with prints, my husband and I also brought the my new Monoprice Delta Mini printer to be able to show off how a 3d printer works. (Side Note: I will be posting an unboxing video and a review of this printer soon, so stay tuned.) We had some quick prints going on that printer that we gave away to some of the kids as they finished. Unfortunately, even a small print takes a while and we didn’t have very many get done while we were there. Next time, we will have a bunch of small pre-made prints to give out. Soon I hope to even have a logo that I could put on these small prints for these events. One step at a time I suppose.

Besides just presenting our own projects, we also did some promoting for our MI3D community group. If you are interested in networking with others in the 3D technology sector (printing, animation, VR, gaming, design, etc.) please check out our events. The website for MI3D is MI3D.co. There is also a link to this site on my homepage.

Overall, this year’s Grand Rapids Maker Faire was a terrific experience. I learned a great deal about how I can improve for our next event and I got myself out of my little introverted shell for the day. It definitely made me feel great to have so many people be able to recognize the characters I printed/painted, compliment my work, and even express interest in having one of my prints for themselves.