Stories of monsters and evils have been around for centuries. Monsters,hideous and horrifying creatures,often used as consequences of wrong acts for children, for example, the monster would take you away if you don’t eat food. These monsters are now taking a charitable act into their credit list – The charity for abused kids using 3D printed monster crayons. A crowdfunding campaign has recently been launched for Monster Crayons, a product made with the help of 3D printing that its founders hope will become a solid source of income for Australia-wide children’s charity Act For Kids.
Two Australian advertising professionals, Ben Lees and Christian McKechnie got this idea to generate funds from public using 3D printing monster crayons by manufacturing, packing and retailing to benefit Act for kids, a charity committed towards helping abused and neglected kids by free art therapy process.
As stated on Monster Crayons’ crowdfunding page, “We are developing a product that will give children’s charity, Act for Kids, a source of income that doesn’t rely on donations. We will use this product to establish a self-sustaining business, with all profits going to help abused children”. McKehnie explains, “The monster-shaped crayons are inspired from children’s drawings. It struck a chord with us so we thought, ‘how can we use that to turn it around for the kids to make something good happen’.”
To create the crayons, McKechnie and Lees faced many unsuccessful attempts at home — Lees admits to having ruined several saucepans in the prototyping phase. Finally, they enlisted the help of their friend Ian Anderson, a 3D designer based in Brisbane, Australia, could make their dream a reality by creating a workable 3D model of monster which could be 3D printed .
Presently, the team is working on creating 4 colour monster crayons in each pack to distribute across supply chains. The money raised through crowd funding campaign will go towards manufacturing of first batch of crayons.
If their goal is reached, Lees and McKechnie expect to have their first run of Monster Crayons ready and shipped within four months. All the profits from the crayon sales will go to Act For Kids to help them help more children. “Once we have sold the initial manufacturing run, we will take a percentage of our income to fund a second run, and all profits will go to help kids in need. We hope to continue like this indefinitely,” they explain.
The campaign runs until March 14, 2016. McKechnie commented on the whole charitable project saying, “Why we love it is because it’s like art therapy, as every drawing takes away the child’s monster.
Its encouraging to know that 3D printing has its hand even in charity.Hope their campaign becomes successful and lead many lives in peace and happiness. Watch the official video launched by them.
Source: 3ders.org
