A lot of planning goes into creating your wedding decor. A lot of planning. We wanted our wedding to have a personal, unique touch from the get go, so we designed 3D printed porcelain vases that spelled out our names for the reception table.
If you’re just checking in on our wedding series: Hi, I’m Dan, and I’m sharing how I personalized the engagement and wedding rings, groomsmen gifts and wedding reception with 3D printed designs.
DESIGN THE VASES
I designed the vases in concert with Jen (my now wife), having her find vases she thought were cute online and using their design elements to create our seven vases, mixing up the various shapes and sizes. Designing the vases was mostly just a matter of revolving a shape around a profile to create the object. I’ll share a 3D modeling tutorial on my process this coming Thursday.
ADD NAMES TO THE VASES
Once I’d modeled the vases, I uploaded the 3D design files to my Shapeways account. With our custom maker tool, I was able to indicate the spot on the vases where I wanted to add the letters; then I found a font online I liked, took screenshots of each letter and simply uploaded them via custom maker, which automatically added the letter to the spot I’d indicated. (If there’s a vase you like on Shapeways, you can contact the designer to see if they’d add custom maker to it for you, or add letters or other designs themselves.)
PRINT THE VASES
These vases were so simple I didn’t feel a need to do a test print run. They were all rounded shapes, were well beyond the minimal wall thickness for porcelain and had a good foot to them, so I knew they wouldn’t have any print issues. We picked celadon green and had them glazed inside and out to make them watertight.
GIVE THEM A HANDMADE TOUCH
To make the vases even more personal and add a handmade touch to them, we bought a gold leaf kit and Jen painted it onto each letter after watching a quick YouTube tutorial on how to do it.
All in all it took three months to create these between design, customization and printing time, which averages 20 days for porcelain, so you do need to plan ahead. The time is worth it, though, as not only were these vases a great custom design accent for the wedding, they now live with our candle holder and reception book on a table in our apartment, a beautiful, daily reminder of our wedding day.