Combining 3D printing, fashion and engineering on social media

Creative posters on social media are using 3D printing out-of-the box ideas and designs inspired by an online community of "makers."

Sierra Sandison, or 3D Printcess on TikTok, is a mechanical engineer who combines that with her experience as a model and to make a 3D printed fashion line.

The disco ball-inspired line features dresses and skirts, printed on Prusa presses, in eight-by-nine-inch patches of thermoplastic polyurethane, connected with a TPU printing pen, Sandison told Plastics News.

"The material is exactly the same and the melting process and connecting it is the same," she said. "The bonds end up being just as strong as it would be if it were all printed in one piece … it basically does what the 3D printer would do if it was big enough, but a little messier and less organized."

Sandison started her 3D printing journey working in a lab at Boise State University.

While most of the other students in the lab were material scientists and biomedical focused, as the only mechanical engineer, Sandison "was given the responsibility of fixing equipment when it went down," she said.

She used YouTube and the school's Innovation Studio to learn, design and 3D print parts for equipment in the lab.

Before she graduated, Sandison worked for Caleb Chung, the co-creator of the Furby. She began 3D printing toys at home and posting them on TikTok, some of which went viral, but did not really match her background in modeling.

When she was considering how she wanted to rebrand her online presence, another 3D printing fashion social media account, called Sew Printed, helped inspire Sandison to start the fashion line.

Sew Printed's long-form YouTube videos helped Sandison to figure out how to 3D print wearable items that fit people's bodies, she said.

In an effort to keep her plastic waste "at zero," she said, Sandison also saves all of her plastic scrap and failed prints for a "someday" project.

"When I own my own house … I'm planning to cast them in resin tiles and make a giant rainbow floor," she said. "All of the black pieces will spell out something about turning your failures into something beautiful."

Sandison hopes to inspire people to be more creative and innovative through 3D printing with her social media platforms.

"People think creativity is something you're born with but it's a skill that can be learned and practice," she said.

"Most people don't know fully what [3D printing] is," she added. "I love explaining how 3D printers work and showing people what it's capable of."

Sandison's 2023 collection, Myriad of Reflections will have 15 looks when it is finished. They will be exhibited in an independent runway show this July and again in Boise Fashion Week.