Giveaway: Custom 3D Printed Jewelry or Cufflinks from Love, Lori Michelle

**This Giveaway Has Ended – Thanks for Entering!*

Here’s the AMAZING giveaway I promised you after leaving you for an entire week while I was off vacationing in Vermont. I hope this makes it up to you! Introducing Love, Lori Michelle – a 3D-printed jewelry company!

Lori is a digital artist and designer by day, creating architectural renderings and animations for local architecture firms.  Her work with 3D models inspired her to begin creating 3D-printed jewelry designs, mostly as birthday or wedding gifts for close friends.

She has graciously agreed to giveaway one of her custom pieces – a 3D Printed Washington, DC Heart Necklace OR a set of her 3D Printed Washington, DC cufflinks (metal or color).

Enter to Win a Custom 3D Printed Washington, DC Heart Necklace!

— OR —

Custom 3D Printed Washington, DC Cufflinks

How freakin’ awesome is this necklace?! I am in LOVE. Lori explains, “I love the ability to design and create a wearable object with someone specific in mind. The result is always one-of-a-kind — something that speaks to someone’s personality and aesthetic or memorializes a special day or moment for them.”

Click inside to learn how to enter AND to learn a ton more about Lori and her awesomesauce 3d Printed Jewelry company!

Get to know Lori better!! Here are some quick Q&As with the artist behind the scenes and how she takes a couple’s custom wedding details and turns them into keepsake jewelry…

Why Wedding Jewelry?

One of my favorite things about weddings are all the symbols and details that couples choose to represent their day. A favorite flower or animal, the location itself, or specific words that are meaningful to them — these details are fun and meaningful to commemorate with custom jewelry. I especially like to take cues from wedding invitations. When my friend Kristen married an airline pilot, and they used a theme of airplanes and travel throughout their wedding, so I thought it only fitting to create a piece for her with an heart and airplane to match their invitation.

My friend Pam had a really beautiful flower design on her invitations — it made for a simple, elegant pendant that she could wear and always remember the day by.

My friend Jessica incorporated the Chinese symbol for ‘double happiness’ into her wedding invitation as a tribute to her heritage. I was able to make her a necklace that matched this same symbol on the tab of the invitations.

Wedding jewelry doesn’t always have to mean diamonds or pearls — these designs are more about having fun and being creative and wearing something that you’ve dreamed up.

What is 3D Printing exactly??

There are all different kinds of 3D printers and 3D printing techniques. Depending upon the size of the object being printed and the chosen material, the process can vary greatly. However, the concept behind 3D printing is fairly simple, and the best part is that it allows for fully customizable pieces!

I start by discussing potential design ideas — I love when people send me little photos or clippings of things that they like.

Then, I create a computer-generated model of the design object using 3D modeling software that is very similar to Google SketchUp. The model is purely digital at this point in the process, so I can generate images of what it will look like before anything tangible goes into production. After I have created the digital model file for a custom commission, I show images of the digital prototype to the customer for feedback and discussion. It’s very easy to make any changes to the design at this point in the process, and this allows the customer to be involved throughout the process and make sure everything is exactly as intended.

Once the digital design is approved, the model file is sent to the 3D printer. I currently work in both stainless steel (which has a more vintage, romantic look to it) and sterling silver (which is more polished and elegant looking).

In the case of stainless steel, the model is printed by a machine deposting tiny drops of glue on top of very thin layers of stainless steel powder. After one layer is printed, another very thin layer of powder is spread on top and the process repeats. Once the full object has “built up”, it is super fragile, almost like a pile of wet sand. To make it sturdier, the object is infused with bronze. Then, the object is polished with a tumbler. After polishing, a sealant is sprayed on the object. It’s kind of like creating a cube out of a stack of papers — laying each sheet one at a time on top of each other.

For silver, there is a slighty different 3-step process. The object is first created out of wax using a high-resolution 3D wax printer. The 3D printed wax model is then put in a container and plaster is poured around it, creating a plaster mold. Then, the wax is melted out and molten silver is poured inside the plaster mold, essentially taking the place of the wax. Finally, the plaster is pulled away, revealing the silver object, which can be polished to varying degrees of finish.

DC LOVE!!!

As a resident Northeast DC, many of my latest creations have been all about showing the District some love!

So now onto the giveaway details! Use our Rafflecopter widget to enter. Leave a blog post comment, like Capitol Romance on Facebook, Like Love, Lori Michelle on Facebook, or share on Twitter for chances to win the custom DC DC heart necklace OR the Washington, DC cufflinks!

CONTEST ENDS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don’t forget to check out EVERYTHING Love, Lori Michelle makes over on her website!