Case study 01: where ai has helped me in my small business

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:

1. 3D scan the coaster-sized object
2. Clean up / slightly resize the digital model
3. Export to STL
4. 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:

1. 3D scanned
2. slightly resized/adjusted
3. 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