If it was me, and the wallet allowed, I'd probably get a decent 2nd hand printer to speed up the learning curve of getting to know the intricacies of 3d printing/slicing and what makes a good print with 3d modelling.
First you get modelling - Tinkercad seem to be the most popular free option, then you right away print the model you wanted. Watch YT tutorials, rinse and repeat.
If you have any technical background at all, learning to 3d model will be easy - same with printing - its all fairly logical., but some slicers have overwhelming number of options. The benefit is that for the home enthusiast market, there has been a ton of people who did the experiments for you and now share the knowledge so you can get good if not really good results very quickly by just using their settings.