3D printing is a lot of things to a lot of people. For some it is utilitarian, others it is an expression of art. Even though we see such a wide variation in the objects that are printed from these machines, they all tend to fall in the same category of layers stacked on layers with various thicknesses. Mark Peeters has broken out of this way of thinking and created some beautiful things using a method he calls “Drooloops”.

A drooloop is a way of printing that uses the filament in a more artistic way. Instead of building each layer on a solid foundation of the layers below, Peeters tells his printer to spit out plastic into mid air, allowing it to fall into place to create flowing and organic looking strings of material. Depending on what angles, speed, and other variables you tweak, you can come up with some very impressive results that seem nearly impossible to your typical 3D printing hobbyist.

Luckily, not only has Peeters shared his files, he’s shared the process by which you can use drooloops in your design.

It is customizeable and comes in a variety of pre-made designs. You can find the drooloop flower here.

Beautiful Jellyfish model available here.

I’ve got a few rolls of Taulman3D T-Glase, a filament that looks a lot like glass, that are just screaming for this application, I’ll have to start playing with some settings!