as you know, I love doing crochet and I also love everything to do with craft in general. I also have a degree in industrial design and have been very interested in technology such as AI as well as 3-D printing.
I have a small project for a museum which I’m very excited about, I am playing with the idea of craft old craft becoming new craft and making a comment on how technology has changed the craft outcomes but not necessarily the crafting process throughout the years.
so as someone who would love to have a 3-D printer, but sadly doesn’t I looked on vented to see if I could find one and saw that there was someone on there who does actually sell their 3-D prints. This led me to wonder if I could get someone to help me realise this, it would be a kind of shortcut in the product development process.
Above is an example of me dunking my mini crocheted doily into a mixture of PVA glue and water.
Even though I would love to learn all of this myself and I hope to very soon it would be a very steep learning curve and right now I just want to get the product developed and in shops! because for this I think timing is of the essence.
So, this brings me to the point of this blog post. I asked ChatGPT to help me find ways to create this product as a prototype.
I was very impressed with the fact that ChatGPT even drafted a really well written message that I could actually just copy/paste when i approach people if I were to approach someone through Etsy or read it et cetera which I thought was also a really great piece of advice.
This is exactly cut and pasted from what i asked within chatgpt.
me:
i want to 3d scan an object and have it 3d printed in london is there a service that does this? how can i see if someone want to do it for me as a sample? they will need to 3d scan the item (a small item the size of a coaster) and then maybe make some size adjustments and then 3d print it out, they dont need to “finish/ polish etc”
Chatgpt’s answer
Yes — this is a very normal workflow now. What you want is basically:
- 3D scan the coaster-sized object
- Clean up / slightly resize the digital model
- Export to STL
- 3D print a prototype
For a small object with no fancy finishing, this is relatively straightforward and probably not too expensive.
The best types of places to contact are:
- small rapid prototyping studios
- reverse engineering / 3D scanning shops
- makerspaces with commercial services
- Etsy-style independent 3D print people
For your use case (small object, simple prototype, no finishing), I would honestly avoid the very high-end film/VFX scanning studios because they can be overkill and expensive.
These London options look the most suitable:
- HawkMade – 3D Printing, Scanning & Custom Parts — probably closest to your exact workflow: scan → tweak → print. They explicitly mention reverse engineering and custom parts.
- Rigid Prints — small-scale and likely more approachable for one-off prototype work.
- Next Layer 3D Printing Services – (Sameday, 3D Printing, Central London) — useful if you want fast turnaround in central London.
- Hobs 3D, London — more established/professional prototyping company.
- 3d Scanning London — specifically focused on scanning and likely able to do scan cleanup too.
The scanning/modelling side is the important bit. Printing a coaster-sized object is cheap; creating a clean printable file is where the labour cost is.
For a small object, rough UK pricing is often something like:
- £20–£60 for a simple print
- £50–£200 for scan + cleanup/modelling
- more if the object is glossy, transparent, reflective, damaged, or very detailed
A lot depends on whether:
- you need exact precision
- the object has undercuts/details
- the scan needs manual reconstruction
- you want modifications beyond simple scaling
If you mainly want “someone willing to do a sample”, your best bet is actually:
- Reddit: r/3Dprintmything
- local maker communities
- Fiverr
- Bark
- Facebook maker groups
- university fabrication labs
There are definitely hobbyists who would do this cheaper than commercial studios. One Reddit thread specifically mentions people around London doing local prototype printing and meetups.
I would message people with something very simple like:
Hi — I have a small object roughly coaster-sized that I’d like:
- 3D scanned
- slightly resized/adjusted
- printed as a basic prototype
No finishing needed.
Could you let me know:
- whether this is something you do
- rough pricing
- expected turnaround
- whether you’d be open to a small/sample job
A useful tip: before paying for scanning, take a few phone photos from all angles and send them first. Many providers can tell immediately whether:
- photogrammetry is enough
- proper structured-light scanning is needed
- or whether manual CAD recreation would actually be easier/cheaper.
A coaster-sized object is small enough that sometimes recreating it manually in CAD is faster than doing a perfect scan.
———-
So i’m going to get started tomorrow on the next step of this project so stay tuned to see how i get along! xx
jacqui