So, today’s daily writing prompt is actually one I already did about a year ago. Instead, I’m going to share something I’ve been slowly working on since April.

I shared this over on my Instagram yesterday, and while I’m overall happy with the end result, I fully recognize I can do better with the painting of eyes.

Something I didn’t share over there is the backstory of how I got to the end result you see above. (If you want a TL;DR of the lessons learned from this little project, I’ll put those at the end.)

It started back in April, maybe even a little before that (technically, if you count when the first discussion with my sister-in-law was had) and there were some “speed bumps” along the way. (And unfortunately I didn’t take pictures of some things at the time, so you’ll only see the outcomes.)

See, I had actually attempted to 3D print and assemble this figurine before the final one I shared. It didn’t go well. Mistakes were made. Attempts to correct those mistakes were made, which ultimately failed and yielded very poor results.

I had originally used a translucent green resin (because it was what I had plenty of at the time while working on another project) which actually turned out to be beneficial in the long run. That one particular detail may have saved me more headaches later on.

If you look closely you can probably see one of the mistakes, even if you can’t quite tell why it’s a mistake in the first place.

One of the things I failed to do was properly double check the original image to confirm the position of her left arm. (Something I would go on to VERY carefully check in the second attempt.) So, yeah. The bottom half of her spear is making contact with the body of the wolf and forcing it to bend.

I had a similar mistake with mounting the wolf to the base plate.

What I had done, for both San and the wolf, was assemble their respective pieces together without checking on their contact points with each other, and the mounting points of the wolf to the base. What was SUPPOSED to happen was the one hind leg and front leg, each having a square-like protrusion, setting into slots that would hold them in place. What ended up happening? Well, the front leg fit just fine, but the hind leg was angled wrong. The square-like protrusion (or peg, or whatever you want to call it) was probably a centimeter off being able to correctly sit in the slot on the rock.

Observing my mistake and fiddling with the angles, I sat there scratching my head at how I fucked it up.

Well, I decided that I could try to fix it. How? By taking a jewelers saw and cutting a chunk off the top of the rock and “rebuilding” the resin up underneath the foot to properly support it.

Obviously, that didn’t turn out so well.

Regardless, I gave it my best effort, and then I made the mistake with San’s arm. With everything mounted and connected I looked over everything and decided to start from the beginning.

It took me about five months to work up the nerve/energy to try again, but for the second attempt I used some new resin I had ordered that was supposed to be water washable (it did well enough in that department). I did make one mistake in the printing process, but it wasn’t catastrophic. I just wasn’t paying attention to object placement in the slicer software.

Thankfully it was just the one leg and the tail. Those were easy enough to set up in a new sliced file and reprint, but unfortunately I had run out of the black resin, or at least didn’t have enough left to feel comfortable with the attempt. (I really didn’t want a repeat of the printing process from the first attempt that ran low and failed to print the base.) That’s why I ended up using purple resin, as you can see by the replacements I used above.

Once I had the new print pieces done and was happy with them, I made sure to check all the different connection points. The only one that ultimately failed in the second attempt is San’s right hand that is supposed to be on the back of the wolf. It doesn’t even touch, and no matter how I tried to get pieces aligned, it wasn’t going to sit in a satisfactory way, so I just shrugged it off and moved forward. Her feet fit correctly on the wolf and that was enough.

All in all, fun experience and plenty of lessons learned.

Oh, and before I forget, a bonus from what I mentioned earlier about the benefit of using the translucent green resin the first time.

Here’s the TL;DR Lessons Learned:

• If using Unsupported 3D objects in a slicer software: after using the “generate supports” feature, check the layout and positioning of your objects to make sure they don’t overlap. You don’t want fused pieces that need reprinting.
• Something that should be noted before even hitting “print” is making sure your machine is level. If resin runs low enough in the vat, objects will not print correctly.
• Adding on to the previous point, keep an eye on the level of resin in your vat so you know when to add more, just in case.
• Printing a large object: if you choose to hollow it out in the slicer software, be prepared for excess resin being trapped inside. You’ll want to drain it.
• When draining that excess resin: drill two holes, preferably on opposite ends of the object. Resin is viscous and extra air flow speeds up draining.
• Drilling holes in an object: drill in spots that can be hidden. (I hid them in the tail slot and one leg spot.)
• If you want to seal the holes: use more resin and an ultraviolet light source. (I ended up buying a strong UV flashlight for this project.)
• Assembly time: check each individual piece that has connections. Check each connection and make sure they fit right before gluing/securing. This may mean holding several pieces together by hand and awkwardly fidgeting them around to see where things need to sit.
• Gluing/securing resin prints: super glue works just fine if you have time and want to wait. Or you can use more resin and the UV flashlight.
  • Tip/advice: you can buy syringes and blunt needle tips in varying gauges. I used both straight and angled needle tips.
  • Lesson learned for the syringes: I ordered tubes that were supposed to provide UV protection. The UV light still got through a little bit. Keep that syringe away from the UV light sources as much as possible.