3D pen art: Noodle and cheese hamburger close-up

Fine-Tune Your Doodling Technique

Have you ever seen a Doodle and wondered how someone created it? Today, we help solve that problem by walking through several advanced techniques that’ll take your Doodling to the next level.

What You’ll Need

In this blog, we’ll be focused on techniques using our Create+ and PRO+ 3D printing pens. In addition to one of these pens, you will also want to have our Create+ PLA and Create+ ABS filament on hand. These are two different types of filament for the Create+ and PRO+ pens, and while they may look the same at first glance, they both have very different attributes and can be manipulated in different ways.

Plastic

PLA

PLA is a plant-based, non-toxic material and is recyclable & compostable. You might even smell something sweet while Doodling, that’s because PLA is a corn-based material that emits a sweet, sugary smell as it heats up. PLA is very versatile and can be used on paper, glass, cloth, and metal surfaces.

PLA is unique because even after it has been extruded you have five to six seconds where you can still manipulate it. Even after it’s cooled, you have other techniques at your disposal that allow the plastic to be reshaped. Using a hairdryer, you can heat up certain parts of your Doodle to soften the filament and reshape it, without affecting your entire creation.

For more complex projects you can even use your oven to heat PLA filament. This technique will cause the entire Doodle to melt together. This technique should only be used when you are okay with melting your entire creation, as you’ll use any of the typically Doodle lines that you see after extrusion. You can also use this technique to change the transparency of the Doodle, like in this video where a telescope lens needs to be heated up to help it come together and become transparent.

ABS

When it comes to drawing in the air, ABS is your filament. ABS cools down faster than PLA allowing you to draw in the air with ease. After extrusion, you have about three seconds before the filament to harden. Once hardened, ABS will easily peel off of paper or stencils, and can bend with ease. Given how quick it cools / hardens, ABS can be easier for beginner Doodlers wishing to draw in the air. Unlike PLA, ABS does not have a sweet smell. ABS also cannot be heated up and manipulated after extrusion, so if you decide to try out any of the above-mentioned heating techniques, make sure you are using PLA!

Nozzle Set

An additional tool you can use to help shape and construct your extruded plastic is our nozzle set. This Set includes a ribbon tip, square tip, triangle tip, a super fine 0.5mm nozzle, and thicker 1mm and 1.5mm nozzles. It also includes a smoothing tool that clips onto the end of each nozzle, allowing you to smooth over or create contours and details on your Doodles. These Doodles below help show some of the different techniques possible with the nozzle set.

Let’s practice!

In order to become a pro Doodler like @Connie__doodles, @riikc.art, and @artistrachelg – you’ll need practice. So we thought, what better way to work on your Doodling techniques than by creating some miniature food replicas. Similar to cooking or baking, the more you practice the better you become. So let’s put those fine motor skills to the test and Doodle some food! Use this stencil to turn these pretzels and then Doodle some pretzels.

Whenever you’re up for a challenge, check out this week’s tutorial. We walk you through how to Doodle up a delicious mini 3D burger. Get practicing and showcase your amazing dinner Doodles. Additionally, we have a great collection of fun and advanced techniques on our website so you can take any Doodle to the next level.

Don’t forget to share your miniature dinners with @3Doodler #3Doodler #WhatWillYouCreate.

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