In Miniature: New Studio, Shop will Showcase Tiny 3D-Printed Artwork

“I liked how little they were and how many different styles of furniture and accessories they carried,” she said, recalling a black lacquer oriental-themed couch with orange velvet cushions.

Pearce bought her first 3D printer eight years ago to create her miniatures, and now has eight printers with a ninth coming this summer.

Her creations are mainly made of plastic, resin, and wood, using a combination of filament and resin 3D printers. Filament printers are a less expensive option, uses by Pearce for larger objects such as mini coolers, 1-inch scale items, tiki fireplaces, suitcases, and clay rollers.

Resin is more expensive and allows for smaller detail; she uses it for most of her creations.

“I really like tools. I love watching the printers work and build something literally out of nothing,” she said.

Pearce taught herself computer-aided design, to create and send her digital creations to the printers. She watched YouTube videos and read books, teaching herself how to use the programs.

“It was a full year of crying and sometimes I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing, but I keep trying,” she said.

Having so many printers allows her to print up to 45 items at once, compared to 10 if she only had one printer.

Twenty years ago, Pearce joined both the Janesville Area Miniature Club and the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts.

She’s now been a National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts board member for 10 years and the group’s president since 2022. Her term as president ends after the 2024 Franklin National Convention, in Franklin, Tenn, in early August.

As president of the national organization, she’s helped attract a younger audience by trying to make participation more affordable, including allowing online convention registrations and convention day passes.

She helped create a subsidiary website called create.miniatures.org which offers classes and building competitions.

Pearce was one of 12 miniaturists nationwide who were invited in late January to attend the Moore’s Marvelous Mini’s celebration at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

The event was a birthday celebration for silent film star Colleen Moore who created a miniature fairy castle in 1935 that is displayed at the museum.

Pearce took to the Chicago event a 4-foot-by-2-foot turtle that she created in a personal effort, not for sale. It is technically a gaming platform for tabletop miniatures for role playing games.

She finished assembling the 43-piece artwork shortly before the Chicago event, that she had started printing in July, in an on-and-off project.

At the museum event, she also sold 3D-printed dragons and miniature Pokemon characters with a knitted look to them, that guests could paint themselves.

“It was great to expose miniatures to a lot of museum guests,” Pearce said. “Some came for the miniatures, but others were just regular guests who took interest in our products.”

Blackthorn Studios will open this summer in the same space at 1727 Newport Ave., in Janesville, where Pearce now operates You’ve Been Framed, a custom frame shop that she said might be phased out if the miniatures begins to take up more of her time.

Customers at the brick-and-mortar space will be able to shop for miniatures and watch 3D printing live.

An Etsy store, “BlackthornMiniatures,” that she opened in 2020, also sells a variety of miniatures including vases, glasses, mugs, armor, suitcases, dragons, gnomes, Halloween items, roombooks, animals, and statues. She has a world-wide customer base from as far away as Germany, Australia, Sweden, Taiwan, Switzerland, and England.

Pearce’s husband, Keith, owns Bay Design Custom Jewelers in the same building. The two met at UW-Whitewater, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in art history in 1993.

View Article Here.