Name
Allie Katz, but most people know me as Geeky Faye of Geeky Faye Art.
Where are you located?
London, England. The one in the UK, not the one in Canada!
What is your day job?
I am a full time artist, maker, and content creator, which admittedly feels a bit more like three full time jobs sometimes! I am CONSTANTLY busy with something.
Twitter | Instagram | Patreon | Youtube | Discord
Do you attend a makerspace/fablab/hackerspace?
Sadly, I don’t and I never have. I think because rental space is so expensive in London, in spite of there being so many people interested in makerspaces, there are relatively few here, and they always have extensive waiting lists. Ironically, I was on the waiting list for one and my chance came up finally!….in March 2020. Needless to say, I haven’t actually had the chance to use one yet!
What kinds of stuff do you make?
I half wonder if it might be easier to say what I don’t make, but even then I’m not sure this list would stay accurate for very long! That said, I love 3D printing and combining it with pretty much everything that I can, including cosplay, wearables, fine art and electronics.
I’m constantly experimenting with new tools, mediums, and techniques and figuring out how to combine them together into something new and exciting! I guess you could say I’m an Explorer Maker of sorts.
How did you get started making stuff?
I feel like in a way, I’ve always been making stuff, as long as I had the access to the materials to make stuff from! I had a rather artistic upbringing, and by the time I was 14 or so I was practicing my skills almost every single day, and looking at art universities for my future. I discovered cosplay around the same time and started making my own costumes to wear to conventions around 16 or so. Since then my life has taken me all over the place, creatively speaking, leading to a rich assortment of skills and being a bit of a jack of all trades!
What is something that you’ve made that you’re really proud of?
This is like being asked to choose your favourite child! I’m still extremely proud of my modular Ultimate Picture Frame, a 3D printable design that enables the user to create a fully customisable picture frame of virtually any size. I’m also quite pleased with the PCB that I designed for BMOctoprint (which is still in progress), mostly due to the fact that just a couple months ago, I knew nothing about electronics at all. I’m not sure I really appreciated at the time what a huge leap it was to go from nothing to PCB design!
What is next on your project list?
Well, I am very much still in the middle of BMOctoprint, so I suppose that is what is up next as well as currently!
That said, I am pretty much always working on at least 3 things simultaneously. My current cosplay project is Klara from Pokemon Sword, which I’ve been making slow progress on while working on other things but will involve my first ever EVA foam prop piece. That said, I have a rather exciting plan for that costume that is yet to be revealed!
what is something you’d like to work with but you haven’t yet?
I definitely want to learn more about movement with electronics; servos, pneumatics, and solenoids, oh my! Robotics seems like a great way to bring life to my ideas that doesn’t involve me wearing them and that fascinates me. I’ve also yet to dive into the world of resin 3D printing, and I’m absolutely dying to get to start using it!
Any advice for people reading this?
Don’t let the fear of the unknown hold you back! It’s really easy to get intimidated by something new because you don’t yet understand it, or because it looks like everyone on the internet already knows how to do it. I like to think that we’re all capable of creativity and exploration if we simply allow ourselves to try and make mistakes along the way. The internet can be a hugely discouraging place, and I want to try and counteract that a bit with my content and creations!
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