Our Story
We didn’t come to 3D printing overnight. We’ve been following the technology since around 2010, watching it evolve from a fascinating concept into something that could genuinely change the way people access the things they need. In early 2025, we were finally able to bring home our first printer — and it hasn’t stopped running since we unboxed it.
What started as a passion project quickly became something more. Friends wanted birthday party kits for their kids. Coworkers needed sensory tools for their classrooms. A neighbor wanted sponge holders shaped like elephants. Someone else needed bicycle guards. Another person just wanted Easter eggs that wouldn’t crack the first time a toddler stepped on them.
We kept printing, and people kept asking. So here we are.
Today, Thorn 3D Print Services operates out of our home in Missouri with a growing fleet of printers and a commitment to making 3D printing accessible, affordable, and genuinely useful for everyday people.
Who We Are
Our founder has spent a lifetime working — and we mean that literally. She started her first job at twelve years old because she didn’t want to have to ask her dad for new shoes before school. Since then, she’s worked in department stores, transportation, mental health, the medical field, education, and massage therapy. She served as a search and rescue volunteer, sought out specifically for her communication and documentation skills. She’s been a gardener who planted and tended over twenty trees as a teenager — trees that are still thriving today. She’s been “the rescue lady” in her community, taking on the animals no one else would. She’s been a crafter her entire life, and her friends and family will tell you her head might actually explode if she had to stop creating for more than three days.
She is also a mom — to five real-life children who call her mom, to several more who found her online and chose her as family, and to two dogs and two cats, every single one of them a rescue.
Growing up as a White child in a Brown family in the years following the Indian Child Welfare Act gave her an early and lasting understanding of how systemic prejudice shapes people’s lives. That awareness has informed everything — from the way we run our business to who we want to serve and why.
We are a family operation. Our household is hands-on, chaotic in the best way, and deeply committed to the idea that good things should be available to everyone, not just the people who can afford to walk into a boutique store.
Why We Do This
Here’s the truth about most of the stuff people buy today: it’s cheap, it’s fragile, it ships from the other side of the world, and it ends up in a landfill within a year.
We think people deserve better than that.
When we print an Easter egg, it can survive a recliner being sat on top of it. When we print a birthday party kit, it looks better than anything you’d find at Dollar Tree — and it’s custom made for your kid’s favorite character. When we print an organizer or a hydroponic planter or a set of beads for a craft project, we’re producing something durable, functional, and made right here in Missouri using locally sourced materials.
We work with two local filament producers. We can drive to them, pick up materials, and skip the overseas supply chain entirely. One of them is a PLA recycler — which means our misprints and scrap material go right back into the cycle instead of into a trash can. Your money stays local. Your products stay out of landfills. And you get something that’s genuinely built to last.
In a time when tariffs are rising, supply chains are shaky, and people are tired of spending money on things that break, we believe 3D printing offers something different: quality products, made locally, priced fairly, and tailored to exactly what you need.
What We Believe
Creativity Is Not A Luxury
We believe that everyone deserves access to well-made, thoughtful things — whether that’s a custom name sign for a child’s bedroom door, a sensory tool for a student who needs support in the classroom, or a gift for a mom who really doesn’t need another coffee mug.
Disability Should Never Be A Barrier
Our founder lives with diabetes, cardiovascular issues, bone and joint conditions, mobility challenges, and mental health struggles. In the past year, she also learned she is going blind. There are treatments, but no cure.
She is still creating. She is still building. And she is far from alone.
There are talented, capable, driven people across this country who are being systematically denied the chance to work, to achieve, and to thrive — not because they can’t, but because the systems around them weren’t built to include them. We want to punch a hole in that barrier.
Our long-term vision is to build a disability-inclusive workspace that focuses on creativity and growth — not cleaning, not menial labor, not the narrow boxes that disabled workers are so often pushed into. We believe that 3D printing, with its flexibility and adaptability, is uniquely positioned to make that vision real.
Designers Deserve Recognition
We don’t design most of the models we print — and we think that’s something to celebrate, not hide. The 3D design community is extraordinary. There are thousands of talented creators out there producing everything from intricate filigree eggs to functional hydroponic systems to articulated dragon toys, and many of them offer their work for free or for very small commercial licensing fees.
We believe those designers deserve to be seen, credited, and supported. When we feature a product, we feature the designer behind it. We want them to be able to quit their day jobs and keep making incredible things for all of us to enjoy. That only happens if people know they exist.
Your Money Should Mean Something
When you buy from us, your money goes to a small family in Missouri. It goes to local filament producers. It goes toward building a business that wants to employ disabled workers and support independent designers. It does not go to a multinational corporation. It does not fund overseas factories. It stays here, and it does good here.
Have a question, a project idea, or just want to talk about what 3D printing can do for you?
Reach out to us—we’d love to hear from you.