Overview

Project Information
Minecraft Bee

Progress

• Printed + painted a minecraft bee

Project Links

• Minecraft Bee - STL

Useful Links

• Acrylic Paint by Craft Smart

Reflection

For this print, I wanted to learn how to paint a 3D printed object.

After assembling the printed parts, I spray painted the primer onto each of the items individually. To reduce the toxic fumes and to prevent paint from getting everywhere, I went outside and sprayed all the objects inside a small cardboard box. Below are some of the lessons learned from this process:

• Either paint objects AFTER they are assembled, or make sure that objects are printed smaller than intended. After adding the primer, I had a lot of difficulty reassembling the bee together again because the extra layer of paint made each part larger than before, so the parts didn't fit together properly anymore.
• If an object needs to be painted on both sides, either wait for the paint to completely dry before spraying the other side, or hang the object up so that the entire object can be painted at once.
• The object will smell bad for a few days after spray painting it. I thought the fumes would dissipate immediately, however, I could smell the spray paint throughout my home for days afterwards.
• I am.. very impatient, and will touch things before items dry properly. Part of this is that I still have trouble calibrating how long paint takes to dry on different surfaces (ie. canvas vs. wood vs. plastic). As they say, "curiosity killed the cat", and I have accidentally ruined many in-progress paint jobs due to curiosity and lack of patience. I've also learned the meaning of "watching paint dry". In general, the rule of thumb I follow now is to wait at least a day before touching plastic items that were recently painted.
• It takes 2-3 layers of paint before things look okay. Though, I do still have difficulty gauging how many layers of paint is needed to ensure that the color comes through, but not enough that it covers up the details of the print.
• Stroke marks are more visible on darker colored paint.
• Sand objects before painting.

The final product did not turn out the way I initially imagined, especially regarding the paint details, however, I'm just happy that I was able to re-assemble everything together and it looks like a bee :)