Erin Winick, co-editor of MIT Technology Review magazine, loves 3D printing and she used her maker experience in her wedding preparations as well.
A True Maker Heart
When it came to planning her wedding, Erin knew that traditional preparation was nothing for her. She comes from mechanical engineering, writes for MIT’s technology magazine and ownes two desktop 3D printers for a few years now. The opportunity to combine her passion for 3D printing with the important happening in her life was simply too tempting for her.
The 3D Printers “Mini” and “Flash”
Whenever she had the choice to do something herself or buy something, she chose the 3D printing option. After all, 3D printed items give things a personal touch that you might not get if you buy something in a shop. So she printed her hair ribbon, her bridal bouquet and the bouquets for the bridesmaids, all table numbers, the cake decoration as well as the necklace of the flower girl on her two – specially named – desktop 3D printers “Mini” and “Flash”.
Source: MIT, Photo: Mark Pariani
Remakes, Remixes and Own Models
Source: MIT, Photo: Mark Pariani
Erin was able to create some of her accessories simply by uploading 3D models from the Maker community. She downloaded the 3D models of her tulip bouquets and the flower and Lego cake decorations from Thingiverse. For her hairband she remixed a model and the necklace for the flower girl as well as all table numbers she modelled herself with SolidWorks and made it available to the community for download. -One hand washes the other.
Source: MIT, Photo: Mark Pariani
To the bouquet model To the hairband remix To the Lego model To the table number
The bridal bouquet
Source: MIT, Photo: Mark Pariani
The project that took the most time was the bouquets. Erin made all of them, about 200 flowers of bright blue filament, individually with her two printers. In total she spent more than 100 hours printing flowers over many months. Whenever she could, be it after work or at the weekend, she started the printers. She then arranged the finished tulips on polystyrene balls with traditional floral arrangement pens and glue.
Makes Fun and Saves Money
Source: MIT, Photo: Mark Pariani
The great thing: Apart from the fun Erin had preparing, she was even able to save a lot of money. For all her bouquets, for example, she invested a total of about 75 dollars. Only for her bridal bouquet in the flower shop she would have had to reckon with the double price…
Erin Winick:
“For me and my fiancé, 3D printing also gave us the opportunity to adapt our celebration to our personalities. We’re both passionate makers. By focusing on 3D printing, I was able to customize our wedding and create a physical representation of what we’re going to do next: lead a life together.”
Source: MIT, Photo: Mark Pariani
Source: MIT Technology Review
