Note: These models are made to be printed using “Spiralize Outer Contour” and “Smooth Spiralized Contours” in the Cura slicer. Or more commonly known as “Vase Mode” which you can find in most all slicing software.

Vase Design - [6]

Vase Design - [5]

Vase Design - [4]

Vase Design - [3]

Vase Design - [2]

Vase Design - [1]

Background Story:

I really enjoy planting and growing succulents, although I've noticed it is difficult to find planters that I like for a reasonable price. After seeing the Thangs #garden Design Challenge on Instagram, I was inspired to leverage my printer's capabilities to solve this problem.

I wanted to design a planter system that was modular, durable, and sustainable. I started by designing the 5 main components as well as the retainer, which was a critical part of the silicone casting process in Solidworks. Once all parts were 3D printed I secured them to a plastic sheet from an old picture frame using a hot glue gun. From there I used MoldStar 30 to cast a reusable silicone mold. Once the silicone had cured I removed the retainer and 3D printed components. The next step was to cast concrete versions of the 3D printed parts using the reusable silicone mold. I repeated this process until I had enough components to create an arrangement that I liked. 

The last step was to fill the planters with potting soil and succulents. I decided to add some small river rocks and moss to add detail.

Overall I was very happy with how this project turned out. The first objective of this project was to design a modular system. I achieved this by deriving part geometries from an octagon allowing various configurations to be created. The second objective was a durable design, by casting the components using concrete I was left with components that are much more resilient to wear than their PLA counterparts. Lastly, I wanted this project to be sustainable, the ability to reuse the silicone mold allows me to replicate components without needing to print new PLA parts.   

Note: These files are to be 3D printed and placed within the "Retainer" part for silicone molding, allowing for concrete versions of these files to be generated. Although they can also just be 3D printed and used as-is.

Octagon Planter

Volume Optimized Retainer

Spire Paver

Modular Planter Assembly

Modular Planter Assembly.STL

Download All Files Here 

Octagon Base 

Dimond Paver

Dimond Paver.STL

Octagon Paver

Welcome! 

This will serve as a depository for all my custom designs. 

Enjoy :) 

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