I have always loved Easter and my favourite part of the holiday is the Easter egg! I am used to wowing my guests with 3D printed decoration, so this year I’ve decided to step up my game even further and dive into the vast world of acrylic paints, sprays and airbrushes and take my 3D prints to the next level.
In this Easter Egg project, I will show you how to transform your 3D printing parts, making them look like a piece of art in just three easy steps. You can download the model I used for this tutorial here.
Choose high-quality filament
It all begins and ends with the material you print with. The high-quality filament is forgiving to print with, gives you a great layer bond and has excellent finish quality. Post-processing is easy as ABC if you start off with an even, smooth surface. Usually, you would want to print with a transparent filament or neutral colours to avoid heavy painting later. However, I printed my Easter egg with flame red ABS 1.75mm which a very intense colour, but still needed just one layer of paint to cover it completely.
Sanding
I printed the Egg with a support structure and as you can see from the picture below it left small blobs on our surface. The sanding process removes the visible layers of our print and helps to get rid of the roughness. My egg was printed at 0.2 resolution, so if you print at a higher resolution, you will need to do less sanding. I used an electric belt sander, but you can achieve great results with just a sheet of sanding paper (100 to 600 grit). I recommend the flexible paper because it is easier to work on complex shapes and it is much more durable.
Painting
You have sanded your model to perfection, now it is time to go wild with colours and start painting. Many makers apply a layer of primer before painting with colours. Primer is a special type of paint that adheres to the surface and fills in small gaps in your prints. I didn’t use primer and started directly with the paints. Initially, I tried painting the egg with acrylic paint but it couldn’t stick well to the surface and cover the original red colour. So, I decided to get more creative and try with some of the old nail polishes and the result was a more than pleasant surprise!
Turns out that nail polish works like a charm on ABS prints! Just one layer of old, thickened nail polish was enough to completely cover the strong colour of the filament and transform the simple Easter egg print into a beautiful decoration piece.
What are your favourite Easter decorations? Post your suggestions in the comment section below!