And the winner is

Vitraglyphy. Vitraglyphy! What's that? If you are familiar with 3D printing or Rapid Prototyping then this is 3D printing using powdered glass to produce objects made of glass.

the familiar 2D printer

What's 3D printing?

from 3D file to object

Well, imagine the kind of 2D printer that you are familiar with. A cartridge full of ink moves back and forth across the paper depositing small drops of ink that makes up the image or text that you are printing. This information or set of  instructions comes from a file or computer.
Right?
So, someone comes up with the idea of letting layers build layer upon layer, kind of like a stalagmight but a lot quicker.
To start creating you need software that you can design in 3D, your 3D design gets sent to the 3D printer. The 3D printer also has cartriges but instead of ink it has resevoirs of powder and binder. A very thin layer of powdered material is printed and then the binder is printed in the shape of your design. Layer by layer.


In this you tube clip by meggatron73 filmed in the Solheim Lab you can see the process occuring using ceramic powder. This is one example though many different materials are being used.


and another from shapeways