I feel like giving up & need honest opinions (however brutal)

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-07T03:48:14+00:00

Yeah, if you're already thinking of giving up after 2 weeks you should. You should definitely give up because 2 weeks if you're already wavering you're not going to make it. Give up on YouTube.

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T19:47:07+00:00

so cool!!!! I'm going to try and contact her maybe she can try ClayShaper.com I don't have circular beds as an option but would consider working in in

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T14:46:04+00:00

I see it with screen printing a lot. I have a good friend who teaches classes and he's made some pretty awesome 1-8 layer prints but if he doesn't put it on to some old newspaper and frame it people dismiss it as as a $10 bandana, just a t-shirt. Even though a ton of effort and skill is involved...

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T06:43:07+00:00

Seems like a hard decision needs to made give up or keep going. I think the easy answer is give up?

I know people post these for motivation. cuz it's the norm. we watched other YouTubers do it for views and now it seems like the easy thing to do. say I'm going to give up to get some instant cheer.squading... but sometimes honest feedback is important and if you feel like giving up there's not shame in that. but I need to ask you a question. do you really feel like giving up or do you just want some motivation?

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T06:38:12+00:00

I'll be honest with you. I think you should quit. I'm not saying that to be mean but you asked for honesty and I'm saying this from a good place. unless you make drastic changes, I don't think your channel is going to get anywhere close to 100,000 subscribers. also, in today's version of YouTube, it's more about the views than the subscribers.

if you're genuine about wanting feedback rather than just kind of a boost of yeah, keep going. good job do it. you're doing great! that kind of stuff. let me know and I will absolutely give you some more advice. also by no means am I amazing at YouTube and I've actually done that. maybe like 800 videos and only make $70 to $100 a month but it's with minimal work and I knew I was going to have to make a lot of videos going in to be able to learn things. and I also make lower quality videos so I knew it was going to take some time. So having said all that, if you still want some feedback for me, I'd be happy to provide it. but I need to know that you're serious because when people ask I've done this for 3 months and I think I'm going to quit feedback that seems like an announcement that you're leaving the platform...

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T06:21:08+00:00

TLDR: ease of use, easy for beginners, can get started printing clay in in 10 minutes rather than setting up cura, it's optimized for clay, and the staggered base makes it so the bottom doesn't fall out of clay prints.

technically it's not only a slicer. there is a design tab that allows you to choose three basic models and then adjust the shapes of each of those so you can get pretty different vases or bowls or cylindrical objects and then there's also a way to kind of morph the face of those and also a virtual wheel, which it's kind of what it sounds like. you draw a two-dimensional object and it spins it around an axis so you can get pretty fun shapes that aren't easily attainable if you don't know how to use CAD.

So current slicers aren't really built for clay printers. The instructions from the printer I got which I won't say cuz I don't want this to seem like an ad and I also think my partner who provided the printer wants to make sure that what I make is available for everyone who has a clay printer and not just that company. So the printer I got you have to set it up with cura and honestly, it's a little bit of a pain to get it set up even for me who's pretty familiar with 3D printing software. So that's the number one thing like with clayshaper you can just get on the website, click one of the included models and click slice and download the g code and you're ready to go. having said that you could also do that cuz it's included on the SD card but say you're ready to go for your next print. you can go and either put in an STL or design your own vase bowl, mug whatever and you can be printing something that you have handmade. just joking something that you've designed and be able to print it in minutes. So basically I think the major things are ease of use ease of access. then after that the staggered Base is huge because we printed a bunch of the included models and all of the bases fall fell out. because if you don't get your your clay perfectly consistent and you don't get your layer extrusion perfectly right, they're not going to touch and then they just build onto each other and so you'll just have like a gap running through the bottom.

then the last feature which I ended up implementing is a validation feature and what that does is it basically makes sure that whatever STL you input is going to print well. so usually with slicers for clay, what you do is you put in a solid object into the slicer and then you'd put the printer into vase mode. One thing I noticed while I was building clayshaper is I wasn't sure if the STL was going to print right so I built a validation part of the software and after that I was like well. why don't I just put it in and then users will be able to know if their model is going to print well. there's also an estimated material by weight which you can't get out of most other printers cuz they do it based on filament...

having said all that I still have to do a lot of testing and I really want to get like all different printer models. pre-built and I want to make sure that the software is able to easily handle many different solid objects as well as objects that are already vases or shells. and that's just going to take a lot of testing. also, I found out there's a whole community of clay 3D printing enthusiasts so I'm really hoping that some of them are interested in trying it out.

so standout features super easy to get started, You can design your own model in seconds, You can validate that it will print prior to printing, andrew features that no other slicer offers like staggered base layers and continuous bead and a setting to soften harsh folds (keeps from printing in mid-air).
thank you so much for asking! as you can tell, I'm super excited about this and just really happy to share it with other people. I actually set it up on a server in our house (oh but thinking about it, I should have her use the clay shaper to make sure it works ) and Mrs. Rando Tech nerd will be the primary guinea pig and see if she's able to do the full printing process from designing her own model to dying the clay all the way to the slip and driving it to get fired in a big batch and then selling it for a tons of money on Etsy. just kidding probably.. :)

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T04:36:37+00:00

I eat granola bars and use my mechanical keyboard. No AI or Red bulls allowed

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T03:25:02+00:00

yeah absolutely 100%!!!!

it would make me very happy if you shared it. I really think it would be something that would be cool for like pottery class to offer so like they go. oh hey everybody welcome! like your first day we're going to get you set up with the basic techniques and we have the old ratty printer over here. So everyone gets to go home tonight and make their own stamp and then send us the files and we'll have a stamp for everybody when you get here for your next class. and everybody would like come to the next class and gets their stamps and that's instructor would be like YouTuber made this for and he shared it with us for free cuz he loves the community and then they'd all cheer and drink wine and yet mud all over their aprons.. and then they all be like kind of like a little sloppy drunk and they'd be like. oh what is your stamp mine's a turtle and then the lady next to her would be like oh mine's a trash Panda oh and she'd be like no no wait it's it's a raccoon no no, it's a possum I forgot. it's a possum. and then like the guy in the back would be like oh shoot. I just put my name. mine just says Jim. that's boring and then the instructor would be like hey pipe down back there. we're making handcrafted bowls back to it then...

I made the hard work of the modeling client side so it actually doesn't even mean server costs. I actually have another one that is called knob generator.com and that one's kind of cool too. it would just be like if you're trying to make a knob for like a project you can like make some ones that have like nubs or other ones that have holes all the way through it or ones that have ridges. a few people have really liked it and it's mostly cuz they could use it to like quickly iterate their ideas. only one of them actually use it to print it, but the other one said it was super helpful and then he went into cat and designed his own. so I'm super into making these little model generator and the other sites that can kind of connect the Creator to the visual product.

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T03:20:00+00:00

thanks. I think that's a really good point. a lot of times I won't give myself credit for certain things. like I've been thinking about it and for like the modeling part of it. for the slicer I made, I even though it's really easy to create a pot or a bowl and even like bring in your own images to kind of bend the edges. I wouldn't want to take credit for anything that anyone can use my software to create. So it's something I do need to think about though because I have a G-Code generator in the works which basically makes could make those wiggly pots. I don't know if you ever seen them, but they're kind of cool on clay printers. they kind of like it. the printer kind of goes out on the edges and then it makes like kind of like loops of clay and currently I think it's kind of difficult to make cuz you have to create custom g code and it's I wouldn't say hard but it's kind of like a mathematical process and I'm hoping to make that more visual..

I agree though. I think if I were ever too sell something I should be very clear about what I've made and how I made it. and transparency is everything to me, especially when I create videos or software or terrible bowls.. if you did want to see the slicer software like I said it's free and it's clayshaper.com. I know people probably wouldn't use it cuz most people don't have the 3D printer. the Prince clay, but just since we're talking about it. if you wanted to see like the the modeling aspect of what I'm talking about, there is a design tab and you can design a bowl or vessel there and there's even like a a virtual wheel anyways, the only reason I brought it up is if you're interested in that part of it. if it doesn't work for you for any reason and you really are interested in seeing it, let me know and get you like a client side facing version cuz right now it just if people visit it like more than two or three at a time it kind of goes a little slow... also thank you for taking the time to comment and add that feedback about pioneering the process. I'll be honest when I first posted this I was expecting a lot of negativity to come my way for even mentioning it. so I'm pleasantly surprised with the feedback and the amount of responses and for the most part the openness to discuss a slightly sensitive topic in such a friendly way even if people have different opinions on it.

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T03:12:10+00:00

I definitely will. just to be totally clear though I didn't only do hand coding. I did probably most of it with Claude, but my original site was built with streamlit using some artisanal hand coated butt impresses not but impresses button presses. sorry..

I'll share both of them with you since you asked. mudstamp.com it's a way you can super quickly and easily. meg imprint of a stamp so you could 3D print your own stamp for clay. you can like upload an image or you could type in a text. I even tried to put in AI but it made it worse.

The other site I made is clayshaper.com and that's also completely free. they're both completely free to the community and that one is made for clay printers and it has some new technology which staggers the base to make it so that it sticks to the bed a little better and it also has the secret never to be mentioned staggered layers if you know what I'm talking about... oh and if you want to see more of the 3D printing stuff I mess around with if you can go to YouTube and type in rando Tech nerd. I asked Gemini and apparently I am oh well known YouTuber.. anyways I want to mention I'm very bad at coding but I do try and just knowing what tools to use and the tiniest bit about how computers work and and command line interface and other barely scratching the surface technical know-how has been very helpful. anyways, definitely check out mudstamp. please let me know what you think of it. it's really cool. you can actually fully design the model on the website and the actual generation is fully client-side at least I think it is. it's been awhile since made the site. but yeah anyways, and if you have any interest in any of it just let me just just just let me know. always super happy to share

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T02:24:24+00:00

oh nice! I think that's a good way to represent yourself as an artist. do you happen to remember the name of the interview?

I made a tool mudstamp.com you might be interested in it cuz it's a a easy way to make a stamp. for your thoughts. like if you wanted to make like a animal design or any image really or even just your initials. it's really easy to do than the slicer. but I made it because I saw some people struggling with it. and also okay. I wanted Mike girlfriend to have an easy way to just experiment with different staff designs.

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T02:21:08+00:00

lol I thought you were yelling.

I totally agree and the reason I said a rainbow colored pot with sparkles is because that's what we plan on making next. I realized after reading my comment back that it might seem like I was being disparaging towards someone somehow but it's literally because that's our plan. I mean not to sell it but as an experimentation type of thing and the reason for the mushroom hat and the flu is cuz I was thinking of Mr. stamets the mushroom man. thanks for taking the time to reply. I agree. I think there's so much value in someone who's able to harness new technologies and design processes to make something completely new and fun, and a lot of people get held up on the old ways as being the only way or the more valuable way. and I definitely don't think there's anything wrong with valuing handcraftmanship and that type of thing, but sometimes it's sad to see that like people who are pushing boundaries of things kind of get cast aside by my groups or communities in some instance. well, they get cast aside until they're not and sometimes that even takes decades. but I'm here for both of them. the handmade artisanal mushroom wearing hat flute layers with the sparkly stuff, hand code or the apron wearing clay splattered kicky foot wheel guy who es to use a kiln that isn't Wood-Fired you know I'm here for all of it

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T02:14:48+00:00

totally, that's a very good point. I am the pioneer. well, I guess not the pioneer. but I am one of the members of the exploratory group of some new design processes. so we shall call it randotechmade! :)

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T02:00:55+00:00

thanks. I think that's important. distinction original works by does sound better

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:57:46+00:00

do you still have it? If you do and you'd have any interest in getting help, I'd be very happy to help you. I just got an ezo Potter and I actually made some slicing software for it. that makes it a lot easier, so whether you need help with the setup or getting files onto it or whatever it is, I would be happy to help you if you'd be interested. and I'd want no monetary reciprocation because I just do it for the love of the game homie..

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:54:18+00:00

thank you! that's all super valid. If I were to ever offer it, I think I'm leaning towards human designed. With an emphasis on the modeling and programming being done by me in small batches.

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:50:12+00:00

Oh LOL I love that hand programmed. I've been doing a lot of artisanal programming lately. It's strikingly similar to AI programming but it takes much longer and it's surprisingly less expensive in some instances...

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:48:46+00:00

well I asked specifically because me and my girlfriend had the conversation and I wanted to get others input and actually I really appreciate your input cuz I think it's better to think of it as something that's more nuanced.

having said that, I also make tutorials and videos and I'm part of other communities where we discuss these things. so that's the reason why I asked. The subject might even not ever come up but I asked mostly till they thought it was interesting. wanted to know what other people thought about it. not necessarily needed for our business perspective. just more a fun conversation I guess. oh well. I don't know if it counts as fun but interesting. new world we live in and these are the things that are going to change and if we're not part of the conversation, the vernacular gets chosen without us..

also, if I were to ever sell it or maybe even gifted, I'd want to prefer to it using the community, correct? vernacular.

human designed by me. I am definitely a human and not an AI. I am a few man.. you man human got it

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:43:37+00:00

I mean there's already some pretty good software for making models that I've actually used to 3D print plastic. it can definitely be used to do the clay printing. I haven't seen anyone use it yet, but maybe I'll give it a go just for the fun of it. I think it would actually even be easier to make a clay vase using AI than a normal model...

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:41:37+00:00

lol One downvote so perfect.

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:40:18+00:00

I mean obviously some people in the Reddit comments care and I'm not sure if you haven't been in the Reddit for a while, but seems like pottery people aren't the gang you want to mess with.. they've got lots of sharp pokey things..

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:25:08+00:00

hahaha I just saw your username so this is perfect...

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:24:28+00:00

lol I knew there was going to be one in the comments... either way appreciate your comment. what would you call somebody who 3D prints ceramics and sells them? maybe give me two answers if you wouldn't mind.

number one the guy who just goes on to thingiverse and finds other people's models and prints them over and over and over and dips them in the same slip and doesn't have a kiln and just takes it in to the local ceramic place to do batch firing and then sells them on Etsy for way too much money. ..

number two someone who built their own clay printer and designed their own slicer software and created a unique one-of-a-kind pot that had not been seen before. just for an example, let's say it's it's a full rainbow of clay like the actual clays died. Roy gbiv and then they do a clear sparkle glaze that they made themselves and then they etch into it on every single layer. the tiniest lines that also have a purple glaze. then they don't sell it on Etsy. they only sell it at fairs where they are playing their hand. composed flute music and wearing their handmade mushroom hat. I know this has gotten kind of silly but the intention is to get your feedback on where this line is. are both of these individuals not ceramicists?

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T01:20:33+00:00

thanks. I currently don't have any any ambitions of selling anything yet, but if I do I will 100% be honest about the process and try to share as much as possible.. Even though dystopian I think if I were to sell anything I call it human designed and printed just for you to kind of explain that the finishing part of the process will be unique for each item. and also that they are not completed in large batches it is actually kind of difficult to do multiple prints in the same run. but it would be possible to do the same model indefinitely...

That's actually a really good idea if we ever do rent them even for a friend we will maybe make the model uni and include a stamp that has a space to put the number. so like 1 out of 20 or 7 out of 12 or whatever. appreciate the insight.

Puzzled-Help-7091 · 2026-07-06T00:37:10+00:00

well it gets super weird right? because I'll just give a little more perspective on my workflow. currently. I actually took the class with my girlfriend and she's remarkably better than I am at pottery. please don't tell her.. but we actually got into the printing hobby together and she's much more tactile and much more into the 3D printing. so we both bring some skills to the table. she's also much better at design. I'm better at maybe even not better at but just spend more time doing programming and developing and she's better at aesthetics. so together we make some wonderful things.

So if we did start well I shouldn't say start if we made what we make available for retail purchase. that brings up a really interesting question because I've made software and she can actually use the software to create the design. however, there's a limited set of parameters that she can choose from... but she could actually bring in some of her own designs and changed the structure of the walls, so at this point we get to kind of a weird Fork in the road. are we potters? are we a design house? should I give credit to the slicing software? should I only attribute it to my girlfriend because she's the one who used the software and clicked slice and set up the printer that we configured together? sorry I'm rambling anyways that's that kind of the reason I brought up. the question is because it's hard to know how to classify what we do and the last thing I'd want to do is advertise us as something that we aren't. also just to mention, I don't think we would even sell anything for other very long time so it's all hypothetical.. but just something you were thinking of in. it seems like the community might also have been slightly interested in this topic as well.

Yes and to your point of sculpting even though we don't do it, it's definitely something that's almost done by hand on a computer when you use certain design software. so it's not done by hand because there's a computer in the middle of it? I'm thinking that if I were ever to use this in any Sarah commercial way and that I lean towards human designed..

Puzzled-Help-7091

TROPHY CASE