One of the biggest winners in 3D printing crowdfunding has been 3Doodler. After a year of experience it seems they’re still finding out what’s possible with their machine.
At the recent 3D Printshow in London we saw an incredible 3D printed dress. But wait – it wasn’t just 3D printed – it was made entirely with a 3Doodler 3D printing pen. That’s correct, this dress was hand printed.
The dress was created by SHIGO, a fashion art house in Hong Kong. Evidently they wished to try to create usable fashion with the 3Doodler – and succeeded.
The dress is actually made from blue and white PLA plastic, known for its brittleness. But that clearly isn’t a hindrance to the flexibility required by the dress. As you can see, it is something that can be worn: it splits on the side and buckles hold it together.
Before you ask, there was not a live model patiently standing while SHIGO designers doodled her dress directly on her skin. No, instead they used appropriately sized dummies covered with paper suitable to 3Doodle upon. Seashell adornments were doodled separately and then applied to the main dress components.
We’re not certain how many hours it took to hand print this dress, but it could be comparable the print time of a similarly sized dress on a commercial 3D printer.
Now that it is proven such fashion can be made, what’s next? What other clothing articles can be made in this way? Can they be combined with automated 3D printed components to create hybrid pieces? What other materials can be printed in this way?
We expect answers to these questions in the coming year.
