Rainbow Inked 3D Printed Christmas Ornament


For a couple of weeks at the end of November and the beginning of December, I was printing multiple Christmas ornaments a day on our 3D printer. Flat ornaments are really easy to print and take about an hour and a half (less if it's on the small side) to print. So over the course of the next several days, I'm going to share some of the ornaments I printed. First up, this lovely geometric ornament (apparently the pattern is called a Voronoi diagram).


The ornament was printed using standard settings (.2 resolution, 20% infil) with White PLA filament. Apparently, I missed taking a picture of it when it was completed before I started inking it, but you get the idea.


I used a rainbow of Ranger Alcohol Inks to color the white ornament. I used a felt applicator to stamp the colors in a rainbow gradient across the ornament. I opted to start with yellow and leave out green just because of the size of the ornament. I dropped a few drips of each color along the edge of the felt on the applicator and then inked in stripes across the ornament. I tried to mix the colors as I transitioned between them.


I took a picture of my felt so that you could get a better idea of how I stamped the ink. I repeated the process on the back of the ornament after it had a chance to dry. Then I waited a couple of days and sprayed it with some Kamar Varnish to seal the ink. If the ornament will be handled more than just being on the Christmas tree, you may want to seal it with an acrylic spray after the Kamar Varnish.


The colors on this ornament turned out really pretty. It actually had a hard time capturing the colors accurately with my camera. Alcohol ink fades a bit in sunlight, so I hung my rainbow ornament on the side of the tree that's away from the window, so it stays vibrant for many years to come (there are also UV sealants that can help with fading).

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