There will come a time, down the line, when 3-D printing will be something that everyone is familiar with, if not fluent in. I don’t know what that society looks like, but a decade ago, we didn’t know what a society with smartphones would look like, and here we are. What I do know is that right now, 3-D printing seems like interesting novelty rather than essential technology, but that’s really only because most of us have had very little interaction with it.

Personally, I would love the chance to really get at the heart of what’s going on with the tech, but unfortunately, two factors are holding me back: The first is that science hurts my brain, and the second is that I live in a small apartment and barely have room for the things I do own, let alone anything that makes more things. Alas, my dream of being able to print replacement battery covers for my remote controls remains just a dream.

But that doesn’t mean I’m completely locked out of the world of 3-D printing. 3-D printing pens are a thing, and the folks at CreoPop were kind enough to send over a CreoPop Starter package for us to check out.

To be honest, I was a little intimidated. I get a lot of things from my father – facial structure, love of music, an occasionally wild temper – but artistic ability is not one of those things. I am the right-handed son of a left-hander. I’m also easily the worst doodler on the Houston Press staff; we are a doodle-happy group for a bunch of writers.

But, with charged CreoPop in hand, I was determined to doodle something into this world. Maybe not something useful, but something. Watch the video above to see how it turned out.