Build in public, vol. 7

Last month I mentioned the autumnal equinox which happened 2 days ago, so happy official fall everyone! Now the sun sets at 7pm! Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

What I'm working on

Product pages

edit: I somehow messed up the product pages when I was editing and now all the information is gone :( If someone knows how to edit wix sites well please contact me because I am very distraught and cannot figure out how to fix it

Oh boy am I cooking with steam lately. I launched 2 more product pages! These ones are for designs I actually don't think I've mentioned previously. One is for a sunglasses & key holder specifically for my desk at work. I got on a random kick at the office the other day to make things that help keep my desk tidy and organized (because it's never either of those things normally), and this was one of the ideas that came out of that 2-day period of inspo hitting me. The other one is for a toothbrush holder that I designed AGES ago and for some reason just never executed on getting printed. Well, I finally ordered it to be printed ($30 later smh) and I'm using it in my actual bathroom at home! Huge slay for me. Now I can take the bottom off and clean it much easier. Bye bye crusties!

Business card (?)

During this same period of inspiration for desk accessories, I was cleaning out my desk drawers and came across this sort-of-business-card from a company that we use at work that is a 3D print of the outside of the office building (I think I butchered that description but hopefully you're following me). It got me thinking that I should make a fun 3D printable business card because why not? This is a small version of what I came up with:

I printed this using a technique called print-in-place which is a method of 3D printing that allows a part to have moving pieces but everything still prints together... super cool ☝️🤓. It's the first time I tried this technique so it's not a perfect print but it still came out pretty well! In my head this would be on the right side of the business card with all my info on the left. So a standard business card but with a fidget spinner on it hehe.

What I'm learning

Ideas come to me incredibly fast and easily when I'm not looking for them or forcing an idea to emerge. This is great in some cases because I get an idea and can whip out a prototype pretty immediately. But in cases like the makeup brush tree I mentioned last month, I've done almost no work on it because I haven't felt inspired to. I'm learning the line of when to push forward and when to give myself grace and just let things happen as they do. (prob need to push forward on this makeup brush tree though because my brushes haven't been cleaned in more months than I care to admit)

Where I'm stuck

The few times I have tried to make progress on the makeup brush tree this month, I end up changing things around or things don't work the way I want them to and then I get a little discouraged and step away for longer than is truly necessary. Because this is a full assembly with multiple parts it's obviously going to take longer to design, but I have no patience and need instant gratification always 👁️👄👁️. Hopefully next month I'll be able to say I've printed at least some parts of it to test (everyone say a large prayer for me)!

I truly don't know if anyone reads these. I did start this with the intention of doing it solely for other people to read, but it's become somewhat of a catharsis for me so I've decided that it doesn't matter if anyone reads it or not.

See you next time!