The Joy Project

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The Joy Project With over a million designs, Thingiverse has assembled an incredible collection of great things to make with your 3D printer. Some useful, some fun, some for play. But, what if the 3D printmakers could create something that could help the people around us to feel better? A small reminder to encourage family, friends and the people we meet. Joy is a Community Project The idea of the Joy Project is for makers to print copies of the word Joy and hand them out to as many people as you can. The small size of Joy is designed to be soft and sit comfortably in your hand and serve as encouragement. Toss Joy in your pocket or purse along with your keys and it's there when you need it. Share the Joy I’ve been making Joys in mass quantities to share with friends, family, and strangers that I meet. I hand them out to checkers at stores and include them along with tips at restaurants and espresso stands. No matter who you meet, giving a little Joy is a great way to improve their day. When you place Joy on someone’s hand, their face immediately lights up. I suggest that they keep it in their pocket as a reminder that there’s always Joy in their lives and remember that it's there whenever they need it. Then, I hand them a few more to share with people they know and meet that could use a little Joy in their own lives. EDIT 3/28/19 Time to make these and share them. I just passed handing out 650 Joys. It sure makes people happy. Join in! EDIT 6/30/19 Join me in sharing Joy with friends, family and strangers. Make and share the good vibes. I just passed handing out 1250 Joys. Make people happy. Join in! EDIT 10/6/19 I just passed handing out 1850 Joys. Make people happy. Join in and share Joys! EDIT 10/15/19 I just passed 2000 Joys. Make people happy. Share Joys! EDIT 12/1/19 I just passed 2800 Joys. Hey, it feels good on both sides. Just do it! EDIT 10/5/21 Just passed 5000 Joys. EDIT added a version with a hole for a 8mm x 3mm magnet. Now, I can leave Joy in new places. How You Can Share the Joy This is a project for the entire Thingiverse community. If you have a 3D printer then print lots of Joys, keep them in your pocket and share with everyone you meet. Think beyond just family and friends. Think about the people you see or meet that need a little Joy in their lives. Surprise strangers and hand them one along with the message to pass it on. Making Joys This is an easy to print project. I print Joys in batches of a dozen to three dozen at a time. Once you get in the habit of sharing them, you’ll find they go very fast and will need to restock. I’ve been printing them out day and night for weeks on my printers. To make it easy for makers to set up, I’ve included STL files for 1 and 12 Joys. You can easily fit 35 or more on printers with 200mm or larger beds. On a tiny Snapmaker 3D printer, you can fit six. Use filament colors that reflect the meaning of the word. I find that Inland’s beautiful warm Yellow PLA works perfectly for this. But, white, silver, and gold could work, too. Use positive colors This is hardly the project for your wildest glow in the dark neon green filament and color changing purple. Definitely not best in gray or black. As a designer, I recommend that you keep it simple, keep it happy. The word "Joy" is the focus, the filament color needs to support it, not over power it. BONUS for makers taking on the Joy project. Each Joy requires less than 75cm of filament. So, you know all those nearly empty spools of filament every 3D printer owner has laying around with nothing to do? You just found the perfect 3D printing project for your leftovers. Print lots of Joys. Printing Joys Joys can be printed at any resolution but I’ve found that .10 or .15 gives the smoothest edges. Though the Joy model is designed deliberately soft, you can feel the edges when you hold one in your hand. More resolution helps. This is very much a project where touch is just as important as the look. Bigger Joys Want bigger Joys? Pocket Joy is not meant to be scaled up in size. The details are optimized for this project. Larger versions of Joys are readily available. Just collect and download Thingiverse Thing: 3265452 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3265452 Joy Extras I’ve included a PDF file with a message that Joy is trying the share. These can be cut up into business card size handouts you can give away with your Joys. Makes sharing extra Joys easy if they understand what this is all about. Make Joys all the time This is a project that needs your help. I hope you give it a try and spread the word to other 3D printer owners. Though I’m posting this around holiday time, the warm and positive effect of Joy is worth sharing year round. Keep Joy happening. WARNING: Joys are very small and fit in the hand, but they’re also small enough to be picked up by a young child and mistaken for something to put in their mouth. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THESE AWAY FROM YOUNG CHILDREN. To see what I'm creating with digital tools follow me on Instagram: @celeski.digital and @woodworking.digital

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