Design Creations: A New Chapter

Design Creations is entering a bit of a transition period.

For now, DC is on hiatus from physical creations while we search for our next home, hopefully our forever home as we move toward retirement. That means the 3D printers, models, paints, tools, and workshop projects will be taking a temporary back seat while we figure out where we're going to land.

There is even a possibility that we will spend some time on the road, embracing the RV life while we explore our options and decide where we ultimately want to build our forever home. If that happens, Design Creations will be coming along for the ride.

That doesn't mean DC is going away.

For the time being, Design Creations has shifted its focus toward digital work, including supporting my amazing wife, Nikki, and her work with Aurora Systems on the OpenSim and DigiWorldz grids. You can learn more about that work at Aurora Systems.

DC will also be pursuing another creative outlet during this transition: writing.

Over the years, I've come to realize that creativity can take many forms. For me, technology, tinkering with PCs and software, 3D modeling, 3D printing, painting, writing, and building things have all provided positive outlets during difficult times.

I am a U.S. Army Veteran of the first Gulf War era, and due to some unfortunate events, I came away with serious PTSD. The past 30 years have been a struggle, but with the help of my amazing and loving wife, Nicole, and the doctors and professionals I've worked with through the VA, I've learned techniques that help me cope with those difficult moments.

Mindfulness. Redirection. Finding something constructive to focus on. Taking anxiety and stress and channeling them into something positive.

For me, making things has been one of those outlets.

Sharing those creative experiences online, through posts, videos, live streams, digital projects, writing, and community spaces, has also given me a way to interact with people in an environment that can feel safer and more manageable. The internet isn't perfect protection, of course, but being able to step back, block, ignore, or simply disengage when necessary can make a tremendous difference.

I hope Design Creations can continue to grow into something that is about more than simply making and selling things.

I want DC to be a place where Veterans, first responders, non-Veterans, and anyone else dealing with trauma or difficult circumstances can discover creative outlets that might help them cope. Maybe that's 3D printing. Maybe it's painting. Maybe it's writing, coding, building computers, creating digital worlds, or simply tinkering with something until your brain gets a chance to breathe.

And someday, when we have our new home and the workshop is set up again, I hope to return to physical creations.

Maybe we'll have a new printer setup. Maybe there will be boxes of failed prints and "oopsies" waiting to become somebody else's project. Maybe I'll be able to send models or prints to someone who doesn't have the money to build their own collection of tools and supplies, asking for nothing more than the cost of postage.

We'll see where the road takes us.

For now, Design Creations isn't ending. It's evolving.

We're going to spend this next chapter exploring digital creation, supporting Aurora Systems, writing, traveling if the opportunity presents itself, and figuring out what the future of DC looks like.

And when the time comes to open that workshop door again, I hope you'll still be here.

Thank you for being part of the journey.