Let’s jump to June 2021 and I have figured out a plan to buy a 3D printer…. again.
I was going to buy the printer I had always wanted, the one that my heart has been beating for and that probably would stop once I finalised how much it would cost.
It has been two years of struggling, and I had had enough.
A plan was made and the chess game I had been playing with myself was almost over – there were a few more pawns to beat, but the end was in sight.
Let’s just say South Africa is a long way from Europe, and there was absolutely NO WAY I was going to let that 3D clay printer sit on a ship that would take 50 days to get here – and so it was I decided to do airfreight, so that the courier company could bring it straight to my door.
12 July 2021
The day I bought my printer, the same day my grandparents who are 95 and 97 got their second vaccine dose. The same day the riots in South Africa came to a breaking point and the President was live talking to the nation, and the same day the National defence force was mobilised in parts of our country. It is a day that I will not soon forget.
My Delta WASP 2040 clay printer had been on route to South Africa all the way from Italy and I was just trying to keep myself calm and not freak out.
My dream of owning a Wasp 3D printer was coming true. My mind was still in a state of denial, and until that box arrived at my studio, I was going to keep my mouth shut and just cross my fingers that it gets here in one piece … because it had a long way to go.
Some of the supply chains had been slowed down due to the riots we had experienced in South Africa. I was also sent a message saying my printer was delayed at the customs department a few weeks later… and that could really mean anything.
My mind drifted to all the scenarios – Is your documentation correct, was it listed under the correct import product, are there people on strike (which is not something new in our country)? Somewhere along the way did someone made a mistake, did I pay the right amount, did the plane have problems when landing, causing boxes to shift? Stuff like that.
I was tracking the box online and, on the day it was expected to arrive I was busy cleaning my pottery studio and I suddenly heard a “Beep, beep, beeep….” a truck was reversing. I was in such a panic I could not find my keys….until I found them where I always put them, in the bowl by the door. I bolted to the gate and there was the delivery truck.
The driver smiling, gave me the clip board to sign, whilst he opened the back of the truck … and there was this massive box!! I realised with that size, there was no way he was going to get it out by himself… so together we lifted and carried it out.
And there it was – in my presence … a box just waiting to be opened. I think I was in a bit of denial. Wasp had shipped the printer a whole two months early, so yes, I was not prepared.
I could not unbox it right away because I needed to do my YouTube video on it. I had to wait two days before I could open it. It had to be a quiet day for filming because they were building houses all around the vicinity of my studio, so I had to wait for the weekend.
It felt like an eternity until I could start filming and start unboxing….it was a very emotional time for me. I had to stop filming at some point because I had started crying with tears of joy, it was an overwhelming experience.
The box was opened, and it was amazing!!!
My dream of owning a 3D Clay printer had come true, and I had worked my butt off to get to where I was. For the first time in a long time and I was so proud of myself.
My 3D design and pottery journeys were finally overlapping and all I needed to do was get to work … I just needed to do the training course first.
My YouTube unboxing video – Edgy Clayware Studio