Half Craft Studio is back!

It’s been over a year and a half since I put Half Craft Studio on hold to make my big move to NYC for a new job in 3D printing. A lot has changed since then, and one of the most important things is that I stepped away from jewelry design and learned to branch into new, fun, arenas.

I’m very excited to announce that Half Craft Studio is back with a slew of awesome 3D printed designs. The new line will focus on special, custom 3D printed wedding accessories and decor.

The first few designs are special photo clips to display your engagement and family photos, or postcards and love letters. String them up over a table at your reception, or over a mantel at your engagement party or bridal shower.

These designs can be customized with your names and wedding date, or any message you like, and can be done in a variety of colors.

Check out the new designs here.

 

Half Craft Studio at South by Southwest

Thanks to a very amazing opportunity provided by the 3D printing company Shapeways, Half Craft Studio jewelry is on its way to South by Southwest, which is running this week and next week in Austin, TX. Not only is SXSW a great festival for music and film, but it has a large tech component and lots of great 3D printing-related events going on. If you’re at the festival and spot our jewelry with Shapeways, snap a pic and send it our way!

Shapeways is sending representatives (and 3D printed goods, including ours) on an Amtrak train bound from LA to Austin and populated exclusively by social media influencers and creatives from companies like Thrillist, Maker Studios and Pop17. I really can’t wait to see what ideas come out of putting a bunch of creative and talented people on a train for 33 hours. To follow the train’s journey and get live updates, head over to Twitter and keep your eye on #amtraklive.

Here’s our jewelry before we sent it out to Shapeways. Ready to conquer Austin and beyond!

SXSW image via Chartio.

Custom Earrings

We finished up a great pair of custom earrings recently and I wanted to share the design with you. It’s a pair of small dangling earrings, the same size stud and drop as our bezel set stud earrings. A little flirty and extra fun, but still very subtle and great to wear every day.

If you have an idea for a custom piece, send us an email at halfcraftstudio.com and we’ll get brainstorming!

Design Tests for Our New Bridal Line

Inspiration struck me last week, and it was a doozy.

What I really wanted to do with Half Craft Studio, from the very beginning, was large, intricate necklaces made entirely of 3D printed gemstones. I started smaller, with simple pendants and earrings, in order to be able to keep a handle on production and figure out the intricacies of starting a small business. Since the launch of the original, super colorful line, almost exactly one year ago, I’ve learned so much about producing the pieces and working out the finer points of sales, marketing and all the other behind the scenes stuff. I wanted to do bigger work, but was worried that the market for larger pieces would not translate into sales, because, as cool as the pieces would be, who would buy a large, more expensive, piece of 3D printed jewelry? I’m talking about something you would wear to a gala, or to the Oscars, if you were someone that got invited to those sorts of parties.

So where is there a market for high end, once in a lifetime jewelry? Weddings, of course. On your special day, you are the center of attention, and you want to be stylish and radiant, most likely in splurge-worthy pieces. And even though I love the bright colors I work with now, they look awesome and luxurious in plain old white.

In the next few months, I will be designing, testing, producing and launching a new line of Half Craft Studio bridal jewelry. The chain and ear wires will all be very high quality to compliment the gems and the pieces will be heirloom-worthy.

I sat down this morning with all the gems from my regular stock and did some layouts for the new pieces. Please leave any feedback in the comments, your opinion is really valuable at this stage!

Vote for Our Design on Hatch Hub Jewelry

There’s more to the world of 3D printed jewelry than Half Craft Studio, of course. You can 3D print all kinds of great materials, including metal, which is achieved through the combination of metal powder and a glue material being deposited by the 3D printer, layer by layer.

I designed this cuff for Hatch Hub Jewelry’s Bronze It Up contest. The winning design will be 3D printed in bronze, and will be produced and sold on Hatch Hub. My design is an open cuff, inspired by inherent texture of 3D printed bronze. I wanted to add even more pattern, so I covered the cuff in a watch band-type texture that wraps the whole way around.

Please check out all the other great entries, and cast your vote my way here!

Laser Engraved iPhone Case

A few months ago, I upgraded my trusty stuck-in-the-past brick phone to an iPhone. I resisted for a long, long time. I didn’t want to be super-connected to everything and everyone at all times of the day. As someone who spends a minimum of nine hours a day in front of the computer, I didn’t want to keep staring at a screen anytime I needed to make a call (or check a celebrity fact, let’s be honest). But when the iPhone 5 came out, a friend upgraded and offered me his old one for free, and the chance was too good to pass up.

Plus, I realized, I could decorate the damn thing.

I drew this laser engraved design in Computer Aided Design software (you can also use Illustrator), and got in contact with the good people over at Froolu, who were more than happy to engrave my design onto one of their high-quality handmade wood cases. It is really sleek and sophisticated, and I love that it’s one of a kind. I wanted to make it personalized by using my initials, so I made up a very minimalist monogram for myself and encased it in a lovely art deco frame.

 

Triple Treasury Time

I love Etsy’s Treasury feature. You can build a curated list of beautiful handmade items and share your inspiration with others. This week, Half Craft Studio has been featured in three lovely treasuries hand-picked by our fellow Etsians. All three feature bright colors to liven things up in these cold temperatures. Click the image to access any item you see below.

Happy Holidays from Half Craft Studio

Even though it’s been unseasonably warm here in Philadelphia, we are very excited for some rest and relaxation after our first holiday season as a business. We saw our greatest traffic and sales all year, sent packages as far away as Finland, Australia and Singapore, and had a holiday pop up with the Silver Room in Chicago, which turned into our first wholesale boutique account. Now in addition to being sold in our online store and on Fab.com, you can buy Half Craft Studio in person whenever you like at The Silver Room.

We have big things planned for the new year, including new designs, the expansion of our wholesale catalog and fun custom projects to share. But before the excitement really gets going, we’re going to have a mug of hot chocolate with our families and celebrate the season. We wish you and your loved ones all the best.

Half Craft Studio

Half Craft Studio Holiday Pop Up at The Silver Room

I’m very excited to share that our jewelry will be featured in a special holiday pop-up at The Silver Room in Chicago next weekend! On Dec. 14 from 12-4PM and Dec. 15 from 12-6PM you can stop by and browse our 3D printed jewelry as well as stellar gifts from Joanna Maxham, Mischa Lampert and others. Added incentive to stop by: we’re sending over pieces in new color combinations that are not yet available online! This is our first event of this kind and we are really excited to participate and to help you get your holiday shopping squared away.

For those not in the Chicago area, we advise you to place any Half Craft orders you’ve been meaning to make by Dec. 14 to ensure delivery by Christmas.

Custom 3D Printed Bracelet

I’m very excited to share pictures of this custom job we just finished. A customer who had bought a few pairs of earrings came to us and asked if we could do a gemstone bracelet, which was unexplored territory for us. So of course we said yes! We ended up doing three emerald cut stones connected by 3D printed chain, and I think the result is really stunning!

Here’s how the process went…