As anyone who grew up in the 1980s knows, one of the best things about Christmas was the giant bulbs on every string of lights. If you love them half as much as we do, you'll love these 3D printable Christmas bulb-shaped ornaments. They're designed to mimic stained glass, capturing the luminescent beauty of the colors within (but without the risk of shattering should it fall!)
These are an easy multi-part print and an even easier build. Here are all the STL files in the pack.
- Xmas Bulb Ornament - Top
- Xmas Bulb Ornament - Bottom
- Xmas Bulb Ornament - Gold Shine
- Xmas Bulb Ornament - Silver Screw
- Xmas Bulb Ornament - Main Color
The Top and Bottom can be printed in any dark color. We like black for its intense contrast. The Gold is the shine color in the middle of the bulb. The Silver is the screw section of the bulb. For the Main Color, choose whatever color you want the bulb to be (red, blue, green, purple, etc). You can always switch up the silver and gold, as well - get creative with it!
Printing and Building the Multi-Color Ornaments
The Top and Bottom can be printed with basic settings, but the Color pieces must be printed in exactly 0.16 Layer Height and 0.16 Initial Layer Height. They print just two layers thick (0.32mm). These are the "stained glass" pieces that bring the design together. They must be thin enough to remain slightly translucent so that they illuminate with the lights on the tree. We recommend printing them on a glass print bed, without glue if possible, so that you get a sleek shine on the surface. If you are using glue, clean the bed first so there's no build-up of old glue beneath.
If you don't have a glass print bed, you may want to "Enable Ironing" in your slicer so that the nozzle goes back over the top surface to make it nice and smooth.
Once all your pieces are printed, think of the ornament like a puzzle. The Bottom piece has raised edges on the inside for each colored piece to set into. Line them up, then use a few tiny dots of glue to set each color in its position. It should be very obvious what goes where, but use the images above for reference as needed. Add more tiny dots of glue to the underside of the Top piece, press it over the Bottom, and use clothes pins or office clips to secure them tightly until the glue dries.
GIANT LAWN DECOR ORNAMENT
If printing and hanging big vintage style Christmas bulb ornaments wasn't fun enough, why not build a few giant ones to decorate your lawn, too? You can scale these ornaments to whatever size your printer can handle to make beautiful holiday suncatcher ornaments. We printed one at 200% and it came out great.
Before you do - and this is IMPORTANT! - DO NOT CHANGE THE Z SCALE. Only change the scale on the X and Y dimensions. The Z must stay at 100% scale for the stained glass sun catcher to maintain its translucence.
DIMENSIONS
At 100% scale and fully assembled, these Christmas ornaments measure:
100% Bulb Ornament
X = 6.1cm / 2.4in
Y = 12.0cm / 4.7in
Z = 0.25cm / 0.10in
At 200% Scale, they will measure:
200% Vintage Multicolor Ornament
X = 12.2cm / 4.8in
Y = 24.0cm / 9.4in
Z = 0.25cm / 0.10in
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Enjoy!