I’m a huge fan of learning while creating and making. When I first began seriously crafting armor, I was more than a bit put off by the number of Tony Stark-esque basements and garages that seemed to be the official club houses of so many professional builders. They were chock full of hand tools, electronics and pricey gadgets. The longer I’ve been at it, I’m starting to realize that while some of it might have been vanity, a fair amount of it is probably driven by most creatives innate drive to do better.

My first forays into 3D printing were strictly because I didn’t like the way small, greeblies and whatnots looked when I crafted them from foam or piled on a bunch of hardware store cast offs. I wanted small interesting parts, that looked functional and fully integrated with my costumes. Later, I bought countless knives, foam wands and sharpeners in the conquest for the perfect line, bevel and cut. Circles made me angry and hours spent smoking the shop while carving or engraving with a hot knife were satisfying, but I was often STILL not happy with the results.

A few months ago, I started hanging out at my local makerspace again. Decatur Makers was my shop away from shop, during a weird period when for a host of reasons, my first studio was uninhabitable. Even after finding a new place, I still drop in or volunteer for a project because I truly enjoy meeting other makers and having an opportunity to learn and grow my skillset. Months ago I received an email that the space had finally taken delivery of a Glow Forge “3D laser printer” bought several years earlier as part of a Go Fund Me. As with most fund-to-build projects, delivery had been delayed for a couple of years. I did’t really think much of it, having relegated it to the land of CNC machines and vinyl cutters due to the confusing descriptor provided by the developer. I was interested, but not that excited..until I used it!

The second night I dropped in to test it out, I ran into another costumer who was using it to cut Daenerys Targaryen’s filigreed breastplate from 2mm craft foam. The Glow Forge cut a beautiful design for all three pieces in less than 30 minutes. A feat which would have taken hours with an xacto and likely not produced such even, smooth cuts. I wanted to try it out on an upcoming project which had a lot of engraving/carving and was amazed at both the machine results and the revision to my workflow.

Although it only removed 2 – 3 steps from my process, the time saved plus increased quality were amazing. Printing, tracing and cutting were the most time-consumptive parts of every project. I could prototype and revise much faster than my previous method. The only problem? One machine and dozens of excited users. I tried using the machine at 3AM on a Tuesday and there were people actually waiting about 30 minutes into my job. It’s the most popular piece of equipment at the space! There’s also language around using the space’s equipment for profit. I realized I’d want to use it on commissions and that those jobs typically would take longer than the new reservation system would allow.

I took some serious mathematics and a whole lot of reassurances before I convinced myself it was to add a Glow Forge to my shop. So far, I’ve been very happy with the machines capabilities and looking forward to really testing it out on a Dragon Con commission: Black Panther’s M’Baku!