From a young age I was always interested in beauty, art, and anything that was especially unique so it was only natural that I was drawn to books and video games. These mediums told stories of epic fantasy worlds and strong, courageous characters. I eventually moved on to writing and drawing myself, and have always had a dream to one day design video games or publish a book.
If that wasn’t enough of a goal in itself, I also wanted to take on other mediums. In high school I made scenes inside shadow boxes, and then I moved on to perler bead creations after seeing them made at Comic Con conventions. Honestly, I just love to create!
My newest endeavor though is 3D printing. My husband got me into this technology in the past year, and I absolutely love it. Initially it was just his hobby, but I eventually got my own printer when I got to impatient to wait from him to print things for me.
After printing, I found that I wanted to do more to my creations than just have a solid color figure. My husband had already started down this path by spray painting some of his 3D printed replica guns, so I figured it was worth a shot with mine as well. My prints however are much smaller, and require more fine detail. I was never much of a painter, but I gave it a try. I have loved the results. With a few extra hours of painting with just simple acrylic paint I have been able to give a life to my tiny plastic figures. Thus far, there has been great feedback from the general public since most 3D printing enthusiasts do not paint their prints. Most 3D prints are either printed in a solid color, or an expensive 3D printer with multiple color options are needed.
Recently I decided that I wanted to expand my audience and share my work with others outside my local circle. I wanted to share my unique contribution to the 3D printing world. Right now my prints may just be little figures but that could just be the start.
To get started, I first needed to make a name for myself as my husband has done. He is already well-known by own local 3D printing community and I hope to be part of that community rather than just being the “wife”. Don’t get me wrong, I love being the wife, but I strive to have other names too.
In order to make that name for myself, I literally needed to make a name of myself and it was not as easy as I thought it would be. Thankfully, I was doing some searching through the wonderful vastness of the internet and came across the Greek word “Meraki”. From what I found, there is no exact translation to English, but it basically means putting part of yourself, “your essence,” into what you are doing. I really could not think of anything more perfect than that. So now I am Meraki Maker.
Through my website, blog, Instragram, and Youtube channel, I hope to show the beauty that can come from such an atypical medium like 3D printing. In the future, I may decide to sell my work, however my main purpose is to simply share and inspire others to do the same. I also hope to hope to network with other 3D printer enthusiasts to learn new skills to expand my reach.
~Meraki Maker~
Meraki Maker 