Left Brain Printing started with curiosity, a printer, and a family that likes making things together.
What began as experimenting with 3D printing quickly grew into something much broader — painting, custom cards, seasonal projects, functional prints, weird ideas, failed attempts, and a whole lot of figuring things out as we go.
We make things because we enjoy the process. Because we like solving problems. And because there's something incredibly satisfying about taking an idea that exists only in your head and turning it into something you can actually hold.
MADE DIFFERENT. MADE TOGETHER.
It Started With Curiosity.
Like most of our projects, Left Brain Printing did not start with a business plan.
It started with the simple realization that 3D printing was ridiculously cool.
A digital model, a spool of filament, and a machine could turn an idea into something real. That was enough to get us hooked.
So we started experimenting.
One print led to another. A fun project led to a useful one. A finished print made us wonder what it would look like painted. A display piece led to something completely different.
Then came seasonal designs, custom projects, cards, prototypes, gifts, and plenty of ideas that probably should have stayed ideas.
Some worked beautifully.
Then It Became Ours.
Somewhere along the way, Left Brain Printing stopped being one person's hobby.
Ideas started coming from everyone.
The kids began choosing projects, weighing in on designs, creating things of their own, helping sell what we'd made, and occasionally being responsible for ideas that never would have occurred to the adults.
We started working on things together.
And suddenly the process mattered just as much as whatever came off the printer.
The kids got to experience the fun parts — and the frustrating ones. They saw prints fail. Ideas change. Projects get redesigned. Customers get excited. And something they helped create become something another person actually wanted.
That's when we realized Left Brain Printing was giving us something we hadn't planned for.
What We Consider Profit.
We're a business.
Of course we want Left Brain Printing to make money.
But that's not the only way we measure whether this is working.
Some of our best returns don't show up on a spreadsheet.
They're hours spent around a table working on something together.
They're learning that an idea isn't finished just because the first attempt failed.
They're the kids learning to make decisions, solve problems, talk to customers, create something from nothing, and take pride in something they helped build.
They're watching a ridiculous idea turn into something real — and occasionally discovering that someone else thinks it's pretty awesome too.
And sometimes the profit is much simpler:
We spent an evening together. We made something. We had fun doing it.
If Left Brain Printing becomes something much bigger, we'll be thrilled.
But if our kids eventually walk away knowing how to create, adapt, recover when something fails, and build something from nothing?
That's a pretty good return on investment.
Meet the Brains.
Different interests. Different personalities. Very different definitions of what constitutes a “good idea.”
Somehow, it works.
Different skills.
Same team.
Still Building.
We don't know exactly what Left Brain Printing will look like five years from now.
And we kind of like it that way.
We're still learning.
Still experimenting.
Still finding things we want to make.
Still getting ideas from our kids, our customers, and occasionally from places that make absolutely no sense.
The goal isn't to become a giant print farm.