Project Name: 3Doodler: The World’s First 3D Printing Pen(Opens in a new window)

Category: Hardware

Goal: $30,000—met in mere hours

Currently Funded: $2.25 million

Deadline for Pledging: March 25, 2013

3D printing may sound like an expensive novelty of the month—after all, how many people will really buy a $2,000 machine just to make plastic tchotchkes? But if you’re a creative type who thinks three-dimensionally, check out the 3Doodler, a tool that fuses drawing, sculpture, and high tech.

The 3Doodler(Opens in a new window) from Wobbleworks is a “pen” about the size of large pickle, measuring seven inches by almost an inch in diameter, that lets you draw physical objects in thin air. Plastic is fed through the back, and then heated by patent-pending technology as it passes through the pen’s body, similar to a hot glue gun. The tip reaches 518° Fahrenheit before the output quickly cools and hardens into whatever shape you draw.

The demos show 3Doodler users creating art, jewelry, and even a model of the Eiffel Tower. With different colors and the ability to adhere to multiple kinds of surfaces, it’s an artist’s dream. In fact, the company has teamed with a bunch of craft makers on Etsy to show off exactly what’s possible.

It can only use spools of 3mm ABS plastic(Opens in a new window) as “ink” (although it also works with the more environmentally friendly, biodegradable PLA(Opens in a new window)), so don’t expect to make 3D ice cream sculptures just yet. However, you do get a lot of bang for your buck: one 2.2 pound spool can be used to draw as much as 4,070 feet of 3D lines. Better yet, these spools aren’t like expensive ink cartridges—you can use anyone’s 3mm ABS plastic spools. (3Doodler doesn’t currently support 1.75mm ABS spools.)

The first 100 early bird backers will get a pen around September 2013, an option that quickly sold out. To be in the next crop of recipients, pledge at least $75 and you could be doodling with a final version by February 2014.