It Never Stops (and we wouldn't have it any other way)

Oh my damn. So many things to write about.

First of all Happy New Year! I've been slacking but it's been a busy couple of weeks!

LaserGnomes/Mind2Matter is all moved in to our new location in San Leandro with Type A Machines!

Rod, Justin and I!

I totally thought I had more pictures on my phone/camera but I've been so excited to just make things and get set up, I have been slacking on the photos!

I'll get some tomorrow of the nearly completed space.

I do have pictures of some of my projects. I want to test out scanning equipment on sculpture, so I have been working with Sculpture House Prima Plastilina Modeling Clay, Sulphur Free, Light Tan, 2 lb - 2 lb, which is an oil based clay that does not dry out. I've never worked with it before and was sort of worried about the "hardness" of it (I put off model making 1 forever and a day because of the thought of using it). When Justin used it for school, he was warming it in the oven to soften it and then you ran into the issue of it getting too hot and burning your hands.

Well, I discovered the wonders of the heat gun. I've used the heat gun for finishing PLA and doing some welding/shaping work in PLA, so I grabbed it to use on the plastilina. It works wonders! How a heat gun is NOT a part of your materials list for classes that require it is mystery to me!

I definitely needed a break from working with it today, as my hand and arm hurt a lot but Wintergreen Essential Oil. 10 ml. 100% Pure, Undiluted, Therapeutic Grade. has been a lifesaver when it comes to pain caused by over exertion. I have 20:80 dilution mixed up at all times (usually adding wintergreen oil to avocado oil or coconut oil as a carrier) and it works wonders. I even gave some to my mom for her horrible chronic foot pain and she said it helped really quickly.

I had a couple of kids request a fairy sculpture when I went to the Creative Learning Loft Christmas party, but it's turning out to be a bit more elfin than fairy. I'm not one for fairy princesses anyway :)

All I can say is this is a really exciting time and I'm so proud of my husband for keeping at 3D printing even when it was frustrating beyond belief. We had an idea of where we wanted to land, but weren't sure how we were going to get there.

We now have a wonderful creative space and are making money doing what we love. We can even take the Pi to work with us.

We will be having an open house/shop warming party in the near future. Keep an eye out for the info!

BTW - I haven't forgotten about the whole 3D modeling software trials. Between the move and holidays, it's been busy and in all honesty, it's faster for me to bust out the clay. I spent hours trying to figure out how to do fairy garden fence pieces using software and had doors in 3 sizes, a fence and part of an elfin creature done in an 8 hour day.

EBay NOW (what!?!?!)

I'm sure I've mentioned my dismay at the Ebay NOW commercials I've heard on Pandora.

The first one was some dude at Delores Park who didn't want to harsh his mellow by running around the corner to get sunblock when he realized he was getting a sunburn.  He pulls out his smart phone, uses the Ebay NOW app to order sunblock. Delivered to his person in about an hour.

By that time you would totally be sunburned. We have a CVS or Walgreens on just about every corner in San Francisco. He could take 5 minutes to walk around the corner to get some sunblock, but really he should have sunblocked prior to going to the park. Once you start burning, you aren't really going to stop it.

The other commercial is a dude having a BBQ.  Oh noes. We're out of charcoal.  What does he do? Pulls out the smartphone, uses Ebay NOW and orders some charcoal.  For delivery. In about an hour.

I'm pretty sure when I decide to hold a BBQ, I check to see if I have the basics. BBQ. Charcoal. Meat.  You know, the things that make it a BBQ.  I'm also pretty sure that my guests are likely going to come hungry.  I don't want to put the meal behind by up to an hour waiting on charcoal.

Well, Justin used Ebay NOW today and it was perfect.  He was in need of NERF.

Our closest retailer is City Target (or as we call it, Rape Target).  City Target is somehow different than regular Target. This means they have higher prices, less stuff and bad attitudes.  They DO NOT honor Target prices. They will only price match their OWN ad (Not the Target ad, only the CITY Target ad).

So instead of going to Tanforan or Redwood City to go to Target, he used EBay NOW.  Order placed. Order Accepted. And we had NERF delivered to our doorstep in about 40 minutes. With a $5 delivery charge. Say what?!?!

If you need to return an item, they will even pick it up and return it for you!

The only drawback is the limited service area for now.  They are testing in San Francisco, San Jose and New York City.

Here's Justin's video review.