In my 2014 round-up post I predicted that 3D printed jewelry was in my immediate future, and I was right!

Ok, it’s true that as the person actually planning to make the 3D printed jewelry, I did have some insider information…so don’t go recommending me to friends seeking a future-predicting oracle. Unless, of course, they’re gullible and have lots of money.

As part of a fundraising initiative, I was involved in the design and manufacture of these cool little 3D printed pendants.

I’m taking a group of my students on a volunteering trip in a couple of weeks to Honduras, the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere. We will be volunteering with El Hogar, a home and schools for orphaned and underprivileged children who might otherwise be living on the street or involved in gangs. In order to raise funds to donate to El Hogar, we planned a couple of fundraisers including selling these necklaces at school. Dopamine is the chemical that activates the pleasure centre of the brain, and TNT is, well, dynamite. We also made them in glow-in-the-dark blue!

In addition to pendants, we made wooden keychains using our laser cutter. Being a media school, I thought depicting the sound waveform of various phrases would be a hit, and it was. We had keychains with the name of our department, as well as some that said “I Love You” and, in honour of our Spanish-speaking destination, some that said “Te Quiero”.

Our group managed to raise about $900 for El Hogar over the course of four days of selling these in the lobby of our building at school. Overall, we’re getting very close to our goal of $2,500.

If you’d like to know more about our trip and our projects, check out rtahumanitarianmedia.wordpress.com.

My next prediction: lots of marking papers as well as dithering about what to eat for dinner then finally ordering pizza is in my immediate future. I’ll let you know if that comes true. 😉