A rainbow of colors comes to 3D printing filament

I originally began working in wood (OK, in cars, if you want to go back further). I didn’t do anything professionally with it, but I built some furniture.

Then I turned to metal, which has been the bulk of my practice since I began selling my artwork in the early 2000s.

About 4 or so years ago, I began playing with 3D printing.

Now I work with metal during the day, and 3D print in the evenings and on weekends, having fun with various filaments and forms along the way. I’ve sold a number of 3D-printed sculptures, the largest of which is 5-1/2 feet tall.

It’s been amazing to watch 3D printing evolve so quickly, and to see intersections between my metalworking and 3D printing worlds. Now another intersection, or blurring of the lines, has happened, and this one is a big deal ….

With outdoor sculpture, 1 of the primary ways to color a piece is powder coating. It’s durable, relatively cheap and long lasting.

There are standard colors and you can order custom mixed colors when you want a specific hue. RAL is the system that keeps track of all of these colors, and they seem to be standard internationally.

So imagine how excited I was when I saw that Colorfabb, the company where I get a lot of my filament, is now offering filament in a rainbow of RAL colors!

I confess that color is a brave new world for me – my early metal sculptures had oxidized (rust) finishes. As my work has progressed, though, I’ve begun playing with color, learning as I go.

So I’m not yet sure just what I will do with this amazing new opportunity to pretty much pick any color of 3D-printing filament I want, but now my mind is going ….