Exploring Life & Business with Clover Prausa of Bluejay and Clover 3D

Today we’d like to introduce you to Clover Prausa.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
As a child, I played Dungeons and Dragons with my dad at least once a week. I was just a middle schooler, about to go into 8th grade, playing as an Elf Ranger, the summer before school started (little did I know I was sitting at a table playing with my drama teacher and her husband until school started). Life got in the way for quite a while, and unfortunately, I did not have the time or resources to play the game. Fast Forward to the Summer of 2023; I’ve got 3 kids, a husband, and too much time on my hands somehow. I met someone who invited my husband and me to play Dungeons and Dragons in their new campaign. When we arrived, I noticed something alarming: No one had Miniatures! We didn’t either, but we knew we wanted some. When looking into the costs of buying our miniatures, we decided to get our 3D printer. Little did we learn, we got the wrong kind – The printer was a nightmare to set up, and we couldn’t get settings right for the longest time. We eventually broke down and snagged a small Creality Halot One Pro, which would work and be the correct type of printer to help us and our friends make their minis. Our first miniatures were created in HeroForge, and we printed them. By this point, I had snagged some “Learn to Paint” kits from some local game stores to see how hard it could be, as I’ve always had a knack for the arts. Surprisingly, I picked it up easily and have since fallen in love (and maybe hyper-fixated) with Painting miniatures.

Now – my husband and I were both heavily involved in the printing. While I was the aesthetics person, he was the technical person. But we both have an “all or nothing” personality. It wasn’t even a week later, and we bought a much more expensive and high-quality printer. When we purchased this printer, I had the idea to jump off the deep end and make this a business. What could we lose? I was a stay-at-home mom with kids aged 5 and under, a college student, and so incredibly bored that I needed something to do!

So, with the help of my husband, some funds, and an incredible amount of support, we opened our Etsy store. It took a little time for our first sale to come through. On July 8th, we opened our Etsy website; on July 10th, we had our first sale for our “Renacio” figure. To this day, I actually refuse to pack that figure anymore and make my husband pack it because I have a bad habit of breaking the bow! Since then, we have upgraded materials and have much sturdier figures. Since that first sale, we have felt successful until October 2023. We wanted to know if we could keep up with the cost of the business as we had our worst month to date that month. We made $185.04 in sales. Not profit. Sales. We were terrified. We held our breaths and held on for an upcoming event in November that we had been promised would hit it big for us, and it did. Meepl-a-thon Kansas City 2023 changed our business. We set up as a vendor and made 5x the amount we did in October on the weekend at Meeple-a-thon. We were happy and more relaxed and immediately bought another printer to keep up with the sales we were accruing. Since then, we have also Sold to 5 Different countries – Australia, Germany, France, Canada, and right here in the United States!

Around this time, we still had an FDM Printer and needed help figuring out what to do with this. This is the type of printer you think of when you hear “3D Printer.” Is the Spool of plastic being melted into shapes? Yeah, that one. I had no idea what to do with it until I saw these 3D Printed Reptiles that were adorable, and I happened to know and be friends with a few people at a local Exotic Pet Store in Kansas City. I asked them if they would allow me to display products in their store if they take part of the profit, and they said Yes. This changed everything. We expected to sell one or two of these cute little reptiles a week, but it exploded. I had to buy a bigger and faster printer for those to keep up with the stock as they were selling out so quickly, and my husband and I had to figure out how to delegate work very quickly. Between new monthly listings, orders coming in quicker, and needing to constantly print for the pet store, school, kids, holidays, and birthdays, it was a lot! We have finally gotten into the groove of things and are so excited for what is to come with our business as we both continue schooling; my husband continues growing in his other career; we raise our family and do what we love.

Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
It has been a challenging road. October 2023 was almost a breaking point for us. A lot was happening outside the business; not making even $200 in sales like we had the previous months took a lot of work to manage. Printers were breaking, items didn’t need to be printed right, and we had started on a new resin (printing material) that wouldn’t print quite right; it was all a mess. A mess that we eventually overcame, though!

As you know, we’re big fans of Bluejay and Clover 3D. What can you tell our readers who might not need to familiarize themselves with the brand?
We are a 3D Printing company specializing mainly in Miniature figures focused on fantasy themes. Many relate them to Dungeons and Dragons and similar Tabletop Roleplay Games. Our figures can also be purchased in bigger sizes for decor in your home if you’d like a cool Dragon Statue! We readily offer painted options for most of our figures. You can ask for specific colors and have them completely customized to you – unlike many other sellers of the same capacity. We pride ourselves in our customer service and flexibility, and we are so proud of all the compliments we get on the details of our product. People do not realize that we are priced fairly and affordably, so we lower the barrier for people to get their figures for tabletop games so they do not need to use coins, pieces of paper, cards, or other random nicknacks.

We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Can you share something that might surprise us?
We are young! I am 23, and my husband is turning 25 this month! We both are full-time college students and parents to 3 kiddos as well! We have an extreme love for all animals, and that’s what my major and my husband’s minor in school are focused on! But we are also very chaotic if you get us into a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bluejayandclover3d.etsy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluejayandclover3d/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BluejayandClover3D

Image Credits
KB Focused Imagery