At each MakerFaire I’ve attended, 3D printers always have a large presence. So I was intrigued when I saw Jade Falcon’s post about using a 3D printer to create cosplay props. The photo above features her prop of San’s dagger from Princess Mononoke.

In her post, she talks about finding free 3D printing source files on Thingiverse. I also recently took advantage of their file archive to create a Father’s Day gift for my husband.

It was a cool group effort. My son came up with the idea of 3D printing a small dagger for him, but couldn’t find a cheap way to handle it in New York. Our local library in Kansas City offers free 3D printing, so I found a Thingiverse file for Bilbo’s Sting blade. My brother coordinated with the library to print the dagger via email and I went and picked it up. Bonus: the library offered to print two blade options – one black and one GLOW-IN-THE-DARK. Very cool.

Have you done any 3D printing, for cosplay or otherwise? Share your experience in the comments!

Links of Interest:

• Using a 3D printer for cosplay props at GeekGrrlCrafts
• Thingiverse
• More 3D printing crafts at GeekCrafts
• More cosplay crafts at GeekCrafts