The Merry Little Printable Tree

Why buy when you can build? This cute little tree is the perfect decoration for any kitchen, home office, or otherwise small space. All you need is a 3D printer, paper, and some holiday joy to make it. The tree itself measures about 50cm tall and 28cm wide at it's base. The build includes a vintage inspired tree stand, tree trunk, and 49 hand made paper branches. There is also an optional mini version of my vintage-inspired bell ornament.

To make the tree please refer to the included PDF. It has step-by-step assembly instructions with illustrations to help you along and suggested branch shapes. The trunk has holes on all sides so how you assemble and arrange the branches are largely up to you. This way, much like a real tree, no two are quite the same!

For all of the 3D printed parts I printed them in PLA at 0.20mm with 15% infill. All of the parts should be printable without supports, although depending on how well tuned your printer is you may want to enable tree supports on the bowl since it has a more extreme curve. 

Warning — This project is time consuming. It took me two days to make the branches; although I imagine if you're able to assemble a crack team of elfs to help with assembly it could be faster.

Materials needed

• A spool of your filament of choice (I used Polymaker's Matte PLA in white)

• 1x roll of brown crepe paper (Amazon Link)

• 3x rolls of evergreen crepe paper (Amazon Link)

• 16 inch long 18 gauge floral wire; you will need a minimum of 50 (Amazon Link) 

• 3x M6x35mm carriage bolts (Amazon Link)

• 3x M6 hex nuts (Amazon Link)

• Glue suitable for your filament; I used super glue (Amazon Link)

• Glue suitable for your paper; I used all-purpose tacky glue (Amazon Link)

• An awl; a large needle could work too (Amazon Link)

• A pair of scissors (Amazon Link)