SOUTH BEND — Behind two right turns and three steel doors inside of South Bend’s industrial Sample Street Business Complex, resident David Martin stood in front of a row of small, neon-colored 3D printer boxes.

“You want to see how this works?” he asked as he pulled on a pair of black latex gloves. “It’s really cool.”

Carefully, the South Bend resident opened one of the boxes and pulled a one-eyed, tentacled creature named Ugath from what he calls “primordial sludge” — a silver-gray resin substance. When the 3D printer’s work is complete, it will produce two fully formed Ugaths to be added to a line of figurines, which will soon be available for the public to purchase.

“This is kind of what we are working on right now,” Martin said, gently placing the cyclops-esque figurine back into the sludge. “We are really excited about what’s to come.”

Martin is the owner of Bear Clan Creative Inc., an startup toy company named for his heritage as a tribal citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. Last month, Martin and his creative team, which includes artists from both Niles and Edwardsburg, launched a Kickstarter campaign to start the business, which uses 3D printing to make its products.

The campaign, titled The Catastrophes of Blightmoor, features a lineup of dragon and monster figurines, complete with backstories, designed to be used for tabletop roleplay games such as Dungeons and Dragons. However, once the business gets off the ground, Martin wants to offer action figures and figurines of well-known characters. The business’ products will be available for purchase on its website, scheduled to launch roughly one month after its fundraising campaign ends, and at local shops such as South Bend’s Fantasy Games and Griffon Books and Games.

“Eventually, we are going to have figures that are fully painted like something you would get at the store,” Martin said. “We just aren’t there yet, but we will be soon.”

Bear Clan Creative Inc. launched its Kickstarter campaign on Aug. 27. Within two days, it had reached its $5,000 fundraising goal from the public. As of press time, the campaign had raised $14,071 and still has 12 days left before the campaign closes.

“I had a healthy fear of whether or not this would work, so the response to this has been validating, especially after working on this for so long,” Martin said. “It shows the strength of this idea, that people have been looking for something like this, and the strength of our team here.”

Bear Clan Inc.’s creative team was chosen by Martin based on recommendations and on the reputations of artists and writers he already knew after working decades as a tattoo artist and the owner of Bicycle Tattoo in downtown South Bend. Among those Martin selected were Niles’ Christina Casperson and Edwardsburg’s Dennis Anderson, both of whom serve as concept artists for the toy company.

“David reached out to me, and he knew that I was really into monsters and fantasy art and that I don’t really do what I love for a living,” Anderson said. “I’ve been having a lot of fun building this fantasy world and the monsters within it.”

“I’m honored that [Martin] asked me to do it,” Casperson added. “I’m honored to be a part of this. The cool thing about this is that it helps us expand our creativity. With all the monsters and fantasy elements, this is something I wouldn’t normally work on, so it’s just really cool to have these assignments.”

Martin said his team helped make the success of the Kickstarter possible, mainly as without one of his team members, Bear Clan Creative Inc. would not have sold toys at all. Initially, Martin came up with a business plan to use plastic injectable molding to produce tattooing products. It was not until one of his team members suggested the idea of toys to him that Martin decided to make the switch. Now, he is leaving his tattooing business behind to pursue Bear Clan Creative Inc. full-time.

“I was so focused on the manufacturing of product that it didn’t occur to me that I could actually do what I wanted with it,” Martin said. “When I did tattoos, I never drew tattoos for fun. When I would go home, I would draw robots and monsters and things like that. … This is something I didn’t even think was possible until a couple of years ago.”

Later, the company made the shift from plastic injectable molding to 3D printing as it was a more cost-effective and efficient process.

With the Kickstarter campaign less than two weeks from closing, Martin and his team said they are looking forward to the possibilities the future of Bear Clan Creative Inc. holds. More than anything, though, they said they are excited to see people get their hands on their dragons, turtle monsters and Ugaths.

“I’m pretty excited just to be able to do this,” Martin said. “I’m excited about the next wave of figures. I’m excited about everyone here having more creative freedom and getting to be creative.”