Macy Hicks, a former seventh-grade teacher, is using Midjourney’s AI service to easily create marketable 3D printed goods – and blurring the line between the educational and entrepreneurial worlds while she does it.
Through her YouTube channel, Macy Makes 3d, Hicks documents the process of designing and printing items such as colorful, detailed bookmarks, with themes from coffee beans to outer space. To create them, she uses Midjourney’s tiling feature to produce seamless, continuous patterns (much like fabric patterns), then HueForge to fine-tune the designs as 3D printable objects.
After that, it’s to her Etsy shop, where the bookmarks are sold for around $8, along with custom nameplates, keychains, and other decorative items and trinkets.
“I started 3D printing because I wanted to make a little extra money selling things online, and I also wanted to become a ‘content creator’ and make YouTube videos,” Hicks said in an interview with All3DP. “I knew nothing about 3D printers, or 3D modeling and design when I started.”
That’s obviously no longer the case – as evidenced by Macy Makes 3d’s tutorial videos that show Hicks using AI tools to create her goods, along with Halloween- and Thanksgiving-themed decorations. The same goes for her Etsy storefront: together with her YouTube channel, it’s become her main source of income.
“When I had my son in January 2023, I left teaching to stay home with him and try to give full-time 3D printing a shot,” Hicks said. “I made my very first nameplate for my own personal desk at school, with no intention of selling it.”
Her background in education directly informs the items she creates and sells. Most – if not all – of what’s available on her Etsy storefront would be right at home in a teacher’s classroom. Now, however, she’s beginning to branch out, with how-to guides for would-be entrepreneurs.
Soon to come, for example, is a video about her Etsy listing process, which will undoubtedly prove instructional to anyone looking to start a shop of their own – especially should they be interested in selling 3D-printed products.
“If you actually want to do those things, just start doing them. Everyone is bad at something when they first start,” she said. “The first listing you make on Etsy might not get many sales, but the next one might. The first YouTube video will take you hours to make, and you might not get many views, but if you stay consistent and keep trying to improve, you’ll eventually be successful.”
To learn how Macy uses AI to create 3D printable items for Etsy, check out her Midjourney YouTube video. And, of course, stop by Hicks’ Etsy store to grab a bookmark (or other 3D printed goods) of your own.
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License: The text of "Using AI Art to Create 3D Printable Etsy Products" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.