Long time readers will know that we’ve been here before. For those who aren’t, I’ll lay it out: I’m a serial obsessionist. Meaning that I grab on to intense interests that may last for weeks, months, even years. I’ve found this to be a useful trait for someone trying to be a writer. For example, I spent a few years in the literature and history of classical Japan. The result was the Yamada Monogatari series from Prime Books. Even when such interests don’t inform an entire series, they usually make their way into numerous books and stories, either giving the initial impetus or fleshing them out with new information, or both.

All of which brings me to the item above. On one such whim, I acquired a 3D Printer, as I’ve also mentioned before. There’s an entire sub-culture dedicated to creating designs strictly to be brought to life on such devices. One can spend an awful lot of time tracking them down online and doing just that. And yet…

You know what’s really fun, and doesn’t get old nearly as fast? Learning the basics of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and creating your own designs. Like that vase above. Nothing really special about it, except that particular design with those particular proportions is something I created myself. I mean, it’s just a vase. It won’t win any design awards, but I’ll lay odds it’ll hold flowers and look good doing it. Also, I have a tsuba (Japanese sword guard) that is normally stored in a specially made box, only the box got broken in our move to New York state some years ago. For my next project I’m going to recreate that box in PLA down to the millimeter. And the best part?

Actual printing of such items takes hours.

Leaves plenty of time for writing.