MoonBonsai: My First Acrylic Disaster

This MoonBonsai diorama is a fully 3D‑printable model featuring a twisted bonsai tree wrapped around a crescent moon, perched on a rocky landscape with a tiny waterfall. It prints beautifully, paints terribly (if you’re like me), and looks amazing on a shelf even if your brush control is equivalent to a caffeinated squirrel.

Designed to be easy to print, fun to paint, and impossible to ruin completely — though you’re welcome to try.

🦾 Recommended Materials

• White PLA (because you’ll cover it in paint anyway)

• Acrylics (green, brown, yellow, blue, gray, and the color of regret)

• Questionable-quality brushes

• Patience. Lots of it.

🛠 Difficulty

Easy to print. Hard to paint without crying.

🛠 Print Specs

• Layer height: 0.12 mm (Because quality matters… or so they tell me.)

• Infill: 8% gyroid (The perfect balance between strength and ‘I refuse to waste PLA.')

• Supports: Necessary (Just like the emotional support I pretend I don’t need.)

• Brim: Not necessary (Much like my gym membership.)

• Material: PLA Matte White (The ideal color to showcase every painting mistake in HD.)

• Model height: 15 cm — fully scalable (Go ahead, scale it up… disappointment scales too.)

• Estimated print time: About 20 hours on an Anycubic Kobra S1 (Yes, twenty hours. Go live your life while it prints.)

• Material usage: ~200 g of PLA (Roughly the weight of my self-esteem after painting it.)

• Plate: Coolplate recommended (Because the only thing that should be hot is online drama.)

🖌 Painting Notes

• Leaves painted with the “I don’t have time for drybrush” technique

• Moon has yellow-orange gradients that look like a burnt pancake

• Rocks? Gray. With green smudges, because moss is everywhere

• Base has brown streaks that scream “I didn’t use masking tape”

It’s not perfect. But it’s yours. And every wonky brushstroke is a badge of honor.