I'm sure I'm not even close to the first person to do this. But while I've seen a few 3-D models in the galleries I have yet to see one anyone printed off. Now that Shapeways added more glaze color options I decided to order one. I got this one delivered yesterday. This was a last minute addition to an order I placed right before the "black Friday" sales deadline and was an unfinished model I made some time ago just to get a price quote and didn't put the finishing touches on it. There is some unevenness in the glazing that was likely due to the fact that my model has several sharp edges that weren't radiused and smoothed. I like the eggshell blue color but think that black or green would have been a better choice for this model. Overall I am very happy with how it tuned out though. While the cost is not very economical yet for larger scale pots, it's an option smaller "mame" (small) sized bonsai.
There is some debate over whether a glazed interior pot surface is detrimental to the health of plants. I'm of the school that it is not. I do however plan to make a few changes to the design including sloping the interior floor towards the drain holes to increase drainage, smoothing the edges, and adding some very slight "friction ridges" to the interior sides of the pot to help lock the tree and soil in the pot. I don''t have a tree ready for the pot right now, but I I think I'm going to put a seedling in it and place it outside for the winter to make sure it can withstand the freeze/thaw cycles outside.
Search
