Have you ever thought: well, I would like to have specific dollhouse miniatures for my dollhouse, but I can't find them anywhere? Maybe then you could get your (custom) order from a custom 3D printing service, instead of trying to find out how to do it yourself or even buy a 3D printer.
Today, I am going to review for you some artists who have the perfect skills to use a 3D printer and also have created fantastic 3D printed miniatures before, so let's dive straight into things!
3D Printer Shop Number 1: BigManSmallWorld
3D printed, finished miniatures and also custom 3D printed minis.
This artist I come across a lot on social media like on his Instagram page and his work and designs continue to amaze me! (so I might be a little prejudiced here lol).
I have seen 'Simon Williams miniatures' also using his pieces, to be put in his custom-made Georgian style dollhouses.
The 'big man' is actually called Andrea Arrigoni and he is from Milan, Italy and is a graphic designer and art director, specializing in 3D printing miniatures and painting them in a fantastic way.
The exact sizes are always listed with the products. And his shop has, in miniature size of course: wall plates, rugs, sculptures, furniture, and 1 kit.
Variable prices. The rugs are going from $25,00 and up and you can get a sculpture starting from $29,17 and up.
On Etsy, and the custom 3D printing service as well.
- high-end craftsmanship and high quality
- returns and exchanges accepted
- buyers are raving over this shop, so it gets a lot of 5-star reviews
- the more expensive items seem to get free shipping, as far as I can tell
- some masterpieces can get expensive, but that is to be expected!
If you have an Instagram account (mine is this one by the way), I would really advise everyone to follow this guy and I would definitely buy from his shop, or have some custom-made pieces, if I ever win the lottery, lol!
3D printer shop number 2: M3dPrintedCreations
3D printed creations and custom-built items.
This shop can help you out in creating 3D printed (miniature) items that otherwise you couldn't find or make. Sells already-printed miniatures as well as customs. These are mostly on a 1:12 scale.
Materials: PLA.
Variables prices, from $10,00 for a little bottle to $50,00 for a mini dumpster.
On Etsy here.
- can make custom made designs
- simple miniatures for an affordable price that you can decorate or paint however you want to
- no reviews yet and only 4 sales, so giving this shop 5 stars wouldn't be fair towards other 5 star shops. Hence the 4 and a half stars.
- It's not clear if this shop accepts returns and exchanges
If you need a particular miniature or something for your diorama, I would try out this shop because of the affordable price, and in this way, you can help out a starter on Etsy to get some more reviews!
3D printer shop number 3: Abels3Dmodels
3D printed diorama decorations and miniatures.
I'm seeing these items in his custom 3D printing service shop, in miniature form:
- mini toilets
- doors and stairways ( Jabba's Palace)
- other staircases
- traffic cones
- all kinds of boxes and trays
- others
Most of them are for the theme of Star Wars.
Miniatures are in 1/12 scale.
Variables prices, check out the shop!
On Etsy.
- Buyers are raving over this shop, which means that it gets a lot of 5-star reviews
- returns and exchanges accepted
- great quality miniatures
- offers the possibility of asking for your own specifications
- maybe focusing on Jabba's playset castle for a lot of 3D prints is not your thing? Although this doesn't necessarily mean that you can't ask for other goodies 🙂
I would definitely buy from this shop and ask for a custom-order miniature. Especially when building a modern-looking dollhouse and getting one of the great-looking toilets.
3D printer shop number 4: DabbleDibs
Finished 3D printed miniatures.
3D printed minis made with (hard) resin and painted.
Some things, like the faucets, can be painted in silver, copper, gold, or white.
Sells a lot of different 3D printed miniatures but mostly on the list are:
- bathtubs
- faucets
- a kitchen stove
- tables and chairs
- dollhouse lamps
- others
Variable prices, but everything looks very affordable, check out the shop 😉
On Etsy
- great quality craftsmanship, I love how real the bathtubs look!
- buyers are raving over this shop, so, lots of 5-star reviews!
- fast shipping
- makes custom requests
- I can't seem to find the return policies
I would for sure buy a custom-made 3D printed from this shop or a finished mini, like the bathtubs (in my opinion).
3D printer shop number 5: LakeErieDesignXYZ
A small shop, offering an affordable custom 3D printing service.
- You need to message the seller through Etsy with a link to the file that you would like to have printed. This file can come from anything you choose from any software on a list of websites (have a look at my blog post here for this list).
- This will be run through slicing software to determine the price
- after that, you can click on a custom link to purchase your object to be made.
This way, you can have your own 3D model become reality, this is basically the only thing this shop does.
The price will be decided according to the project you want printed.
On Etsy. (sorry, this item is not available anymore)
- you can have anything you want/found 3D printed
- returns and exchanges accepted
- not many sales yet, so it wouldn't be fair to give this shop as many stars as the first 5-star shop that had a lot of sales so far. Hence the 4 and a half stars.
Seems like it would be worth trying it out, maybe start with an easy item and see the result? The few reviews so far are promising;-)
My Final Conclusion.
If ever you are stuck on making a miniature piece yourself and/or you want something specific/don't want to buy a 3D printer yourself then make it easy on yourself and hire someone to do it for you!
To conclude this blog post, I would also like to show you this video of a working washing machine, made by 3D printing, isn't that cool? I would suggest giving it a 'thumbs up'!
I hope you enjoyed this article on where to find a custom 3D printing service. If you have any questions, observations, etc., then please leave a message below or you can join me now on my newest Facebook group.
In the meantime, there are already 2000 members there and you can ask any questions to the community!
I wish you happy crafting!
Best regards,
Lizzy
Related article: How to create miniatures by 3D printing for beginners?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and know-how with this good article. I never came up with the idea to use a 3D-Printer for creating miniatures and never knew that there are 3d services. It is a very good idea and I enjoyed reading this post. Now I know which 3 d services I can choose from, if I have to create a miniature.
Hi GudComp,
Thanks very much for your comment and I wish you happy crafting!
Best regards,
Lizzy
Amazing what can be done with a 3D printer. I loved the washing machine. Obviously it took some effort to have it as a working model. It would have been interesting if it had water connected :-).
But still, with 3D printing we are now able to make virtually anything we desire, but cost is a limiting factor, which is why miniatures are so popular.
Compared to the old style miniatures of yesteryear, 3D printing makes so much more possible at less cost.
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your message. Yes, 3D printing a miniature sure can be less cost-effective, depending on if you have them custom 3D printed, like in this blog post, or buying your own 3D printer though, I think. It would be interesting to figure that out actually, so thanks 🙂
Regards,
Lizz
