Felicia Day Talks Making 3D Printing A More Inviting Space With FeliciaDay3D

In the tabletop space, it's hard to think of a revolution for gamers at home larger than 3D Printers becoming so accessible. Whether you are printing terrain, miniatures, organizers for pieces, or wanting to take your games to the real world and printing off cosplay pieces, having a device that can create these gives you options. Options are exactly what Felicia Day is looking to add with her newly launched FeliciaDay3D model subscription.

Last week we got to sit down with Felicia Day - a name many should know from web series The Guild, Geek & Sundry, the originator of Critical Role, and various roles across movies and TV - and talk about her entry into the 3D printing space, how she works and consults with 3D artists, and how working on these projects has rekindled her love with projects that she thought she was burnt out on.

What is FeliciaDay3D?

In Day's own words, "FeliciaDay3D is a site you can go to at thangs.com, you can get a subscription to download 3D models or you can buy things individually. What I do is I design models with really cool designers an we offer those exclusively as well as curating different designers from the web.

"I really have gotten into 3D Printing and fell in love with it. The tinkering aspect and the engineering of it, but also the artistry."

Starting In 3D Printing

In Felicia Day's original post, I was interested in how she had stated "[she] didn't have a 3D printer at the time, not because [she] didn't want one, but because [she] was intimidated."

Day explained that she had been researching getting a 3D printer, but found examples of places like Reddit where people might ask simple questions like, "How do you get the file into your printer?" and the answers she saw were extremely antagonistic.

"'What are you doing with that stupid comment? There's so many resources on the web,' and I'm like, 'Oh, this is why it's hard to get into this.' You need a doorway opened to you and because I didn't have those training wheels [...] it was really tough," she said.

Day ran through all of the prep work she put into learning to use her 3D printer, including watching hours of YouTube content on how to set it up, or that I need desiccant in my AMS.

"I feel like I'm a smart person but it's not obvious, there's so many little steps that aren't in the manual," she said. "I'm not about to become a YouTube person to train people on how to do this [...] but I will say the inspiration to get me into the space wasn't there, so I would love to be that person."

Discussing further the differences between her Bamboo X1 Carbon which uses filament and the Anycubic Photon that I have, I couldn't agree with Day more on how complicated the process could be and that my purchase was driven because of the minimal assembly requirement.

The Creators Behind the Project

Day was immediately able to show off one of the pieces from FeliciaDay3D, a necklace piece she was wearing that she created with Kaizen 3D prints. While the version Day was wearing was black, she was also able to show off the Mother's Day version that is printed in different blues and greens.

"That's the great thing about 3D printing," she said. "You can take the recipe and you can tweak it to be however you want."

An aspect of FeliciaDay3D that I did have to compliment was that each product image clearly stated the designer's name and the descriptions also all link to the creator's Thangs profile page. Day even pointed out to me that on the bases of the creations, there were the creator's initials so even after printing that credit can be found.

"I'm not into modeling and am collaborating doing mood boards or inspiration boards and then we go back and forth," Day described.

Talking about how Day connected with each of these creators, the full credit went to Thangs. "[They] approached me to do this project and I had been very wary to do big collaborative projects with people ever since Geek & Sundry, I was really burnt out mentally and physically," she said. "It's been five years since I left it and I've been doing my own stuff. [...] Because it's an area I really wanted to get into, because my daughter is really into it.

"Paul from Thangs approached me [...] and was like, 'Hey, you seem to have a huge passion for this, [...] here's a printer, let's get started and we will facilitate the relationship that you have with these designers.'"

Day walked me through the process from the beginning where certain creators were pitched to her, and she found different art and minis that she liked the look of. Today, she spends daily time looking at creators' work, trying to find a way that FeliciaDay3D can benefit while also providing full credit to the creators to create a "circulatory system where we all rise to the top."

Day spoke about how approaching 3D printing with these designers has also helped to reinvigorate a passion that she thought she had lost.

"Quite frankly, I was totally burnt out on my show The Guild, it's been like eight years since I worked on it," she said. "The fact that I worked with Christine (Moonlight Minis) to recreate these guys and write description I realized I'm not as burnt out on them as I thought."

Who is FeliciaDay3D for?

To focus in on what type of person should be keeping an eye out on her page, Day simply explained that "there are three different demographics of things we're doing because they're my personal interests: Cosplay & Jewelry, Minis, and Toys to make with your kids."

For Day it was important that the designs created for FeliciaDay3D were accessible to people new to the space.

"I have a passion for taking something that's a little bit inaccessible and making it more public for people to get into," she said. "We do have prints that are 30 minutes and they're out, one color and you're done. But then you can do the necklace, which is printed onto fabric, or print minis on your resin printer."

As we discussed the different options, Day held up her necklace once more, as well as other prints available on her page, including Vork from the Guild in a small display case and an articulated spider wearing a party hat.

Subscription Benefits and Future Releases

For subscribers to FeliciaDay3D, you'll be able to get access to new creations every month. Each month Day plans to add two minis, more jewelry, and toys. There is also a subscription tier that allows for the reselling of printed minis from FeliciaDay3D.

For next month, Day was able to reveal to me that there would be two more members of The Guild who would be added to the page, as well as astrology pendants for Gemini, Leo, and Virgo. Next month would also have a charity initiative added to coincide with Day's birthday. For all purchases of the charity print, a substantial portion would be donated to charity. 

After completing adding minis for The Guild and the Axis of Anarchy, Day teased that she has another project she's interested in for minis. Day thought to herself, "Wouldn't it be cool to see a mini like that," and now there are plans to not just create those minis but even write a module around it.

3D Printing Is Still A New Space

Day is hoping, as her platform grows, that she can reach out to designers who might not be in the 3D space for collaborations. "I'd love to work with jewelry designers or RPG and Tabletop who work in other mediums. Maybe it's the step that they need to get into the space.

"This is about collaboration, exploration, and creativity. Wherever we can make cool things with technology, I want to be there." 

Speaking more to her personal history being on the forefront of technology, Day explained, "The Guild took off because we were one of the first shows on YouTube, the iPhone came out the year later and blew up social media. Being early in tech is something I have a passion for because it's the most creatively fertile time.

"Now I think 3D Printers are accessible enough that that can be a tool for people, and I am excited to be along for the ride," she said.

While only able to offer things that she is the IP holder of, Day also had some interesting observations about licensed product from franchises like Pokemon or Harry Potter that are so present on 3D model websites.

"I think as the fan projects get out there, it's going to become more high profile and push the companies to satisfy the need of the people," she said. "Maybe they'll discover new aspects of their own IP because of fans. I love it when grass roots push bigger companies to change.

"Of course, probably in 5-10 years the big companies will say, 'We're going to take over,' but the stronger the individual creators are now, the more power they'll have when that inevitably happens."

Empowering Her Daughter and Other Women Interested in 3D Printing

One thing that Day wanted to make sure fans of hers understand from this project is that "it's really not as hard as it looks."

"The reputation is a lot more engineering based [...] but once the technology becomes more accessible to a plug-and-play kind of mind, then people are going to come in and approach it from a different way," she said.

"One of the first things I printed, I got a jam, I was printing two filaments that shouldn't have gone together," Day said. "I did get a warning, but I was like 'meh' and it got a clog. I was like, 'Felicia, calm down this is mechanical, people do this all the time,' and I took everything apart.

"Some people are like 'eye roll, you used a wrench' but yeah this is a big deal for me. The fact that I was able to get that thing unstuck without asking for any help was so liberating, and I felt powerful and then I made something with it."

"The fact that I was able to get that thing unstuck without asking for any help was so liberating and I felt powerful."

Day revealed that the first thing she printed was the Pokemon Wooper for her daughter; the second attempt was successful and she was "Mom of the Year."

Day joked that replacing everything in her house with a 3D print is not her life passion, but she does want to create pretty things. "Getting others, especially women and girls, into a place that's very male-dominated" is also important for Day.

She did remark that there was no specific intent behind it, but that's "just who I am." Her aim is to be the person at the door to let others in and show that it can be very fun.

"The earlier you get a kid into it the better, so we can have more girls like my little girl coming home and saying, 'I love making things Mama, I want to build things, I want to design my own things.' That's going to lead to all kinds of benefits down the line," she said.

"There's a lot of layers going on, and at the end of the day, I just want to make a spider wearing a party hat."