Cottage Industries - Montana Style: 3D Printing as an Analogy for Life

Raven Hrysenko spends a lot of time in "3D Land," fixing printers, designing files, teaching 3D design and printing, and creating her own designs, some are trinkets, some inventions, and some parts that could restore an object to good use. Her goals are to show that 3D printing can be an alternative method to get what you need, to educate the public about how things can be made, and that there are different ways of thinking. A flexible T-Rex and dolphin, a tape dispenser, and an oil plug for a skid steer, all are possibilities in 3D Land.

Raven's connection with 3D printing began in college fixing 3D printers. In 2015 she began 3D printing for the school in Butte; five years ago she started teaching and last year she began her business, with the help of her business partner Larry Hoffman. A chronic health condition caused progress to be slower than what she'd like; for the last five years Raven has dealt with chronic migraines and occipital neuralgia, which cause her neck to be really tight and her nerves to misfire, so she's in pain almost every day.

As a recent 3D entrepreneur, Raven doesn't specialize.

"I don't specialize in anything, I put my hand in everything because I feel that's how printing goes, you have to do everything, you have to go with the times, you need to evolve," she said. "I've been able to expand worldwide; I sold to the United Kingdom and Australia recently. Mostly I print from my own designs, but sometimes I buy designs from other people and support other artists."

Using three 3D printers and either PLA, a material made out of cornstarch, resin, and carbon fiber, Raven is able to create a variety of trinkets, as well as her popular cow tag earrings, Montana earrings, head frame snow globes, and nightlights, watching as the printer runs one layer down at a time until the object is built.

"Right now I'm printing little sombrero hats that go on top of shot glasses; you can put sugar or salt in the top of the sombrero, then turn it upside down and put sugar or salt into the glass," Raven said.

Raven's story attains greater meaning when she reveals that she is Asperger's autistic and grew up being told she would never amount to anything – never graduate from college, own a business, or write for a newspaper. She's doing all that and wants to spread this message of the potential for accomplishment to others.

"I want people to know that just because you're told, that doesn't mean you can't do something. For me to tell people that from being nowhere when I was a kid to starting a business is something to be proud of," she said. "I was told I'd never amount to anything but as long as I'm functioning and giving back to the society I'm doing something right."

Originally from New Jersey, Raven moved to Montana in the eighth grade with her grandparents, with whom she'd lived all her life. She describes moving to Montana as life-changing, starting with a school district that treated disabled students very differently than in New Jersey. She went from being stuck in a room every day to being able to do math and history and learn things.

"Montana helps people that are not societal norms. Montana changed my life for the better because I can live my life the way I want and also a lot more people care about what you do and they care that you're doing stuff to help the community," she said.

Raven has volunteered at several camps and taught high school students. Right now she's excited about putting the word out about the Adult Ed class she'll be teaching in September, where she'll instruct on how to print, what happens if your printer breaks down, how to design a part to print, how to find files to print and how to scan an object and make it into a 3D print.

Occasionally the community can find Raven at the Farmer's Market but her social media links are the best way to see her work. She's also been actively pursuing having her work in stores and presently has merchandise at Settings, the Cardwell General Store, the World Museum of Mining, and Hometana.

Raven believes there are connections between making dreams become reality and 3D printing. From something as simple as taking someone's vision of making a part, thinking it impossible, and seeing it created by a 3D printer to looking at all she's done and hopes to do in the future.

She wants to be known as someone who helps others and be recognized for that at the end of her life. Though not all dreams are realistic, those that are should be pursued.

"If you have a dream that's realistic but you don't know how to pursue it, start slow, make it so you feel some accomplishments. If you want to make people happy, make them happy," Raven said. "Don't be afraid to fail, I fail about three times a day. Just try to be the person you want to be, don't be afraid of the person you want to be."

It's a lot like how the 3D printing process works: have a concept, draw it out, program it on the computer, and print. If it looks terrible, still test it out to see if it works, then go back into the computer for adjustments. It might take three or four fails to be successful.

"A lot of people nowadays don't want to fail because they think failure is the worst thing in the world; 3D printing shows that failures happen but it's not the end of the world," she said.

Raven hopes to make her business a viable source of income and open a shop with printers to teach others and herself as more ideas and dreams become reality.

For more information: 406-490-4077, hrysenkoraven@gmail.com, Facebook: Raven 3D Printing and Design, Tik Tok: Bluemeadowlark3d, Etsy: BlueMeadowlark3D.