A Very Resin Christmas

It started, as these things do, with a simple idea: “Let’s print something fun for Christmas.”

What followed was a resin-fueled descent into full holiday production.

or, How One Deer’s Stiff Legs Sparked a Holiday Spiral

The Scene Builds Itself

You don’t plan to make a miniature Christmas universe. It just... happens.

First came the deer — printed in clear resin on the Formlabs Form 3. The legs were meant to move, a clever jointed design. They didn’t. The parts cured stiff, locked in place like little frozen statues. That should’ve been the end.

But instead, that failure birthed an idea:

What if we gave them a slide?

So, a slide was printed. Clear resin again, spray-painted to a toy-like finish. Suddenly, the deer had purpose. And the project? Momentum.

From there, the holiday scene began to spiral gloriously out of control.

Yoda, Trees & Tiny Challenges

A Yoda appeared next. (Holiday-themed, of course. Don’t ask.) Also printed on the Form 3 in clear resin, then brush painted by hand using Army Painter paints. Most of him was straightforward — until the eyes. Specifically, the irises. Small, delicate, somehow too expressive. They demanded more than just color. They required commitment.

Meanwhile, the Christmas tree was printed on the B9 with emerald resin. A few careful, dry-brushed strokes of white transformed it into a snow-dusted evergreen.

Presents, Painted Past the Point

The gift boxes came next — printed in B9’s HD Slate. Perfect little packages, hand-painted with care. Bows had a nearly invisible folds in their ribbon. Painting that crevice wasn’t necessary. It was barely visible. But I painted it anyway. Because I’m that kind of maker. The kind who paints shadows into corners no one will ever see, just to know they’re there.

Dipped & Done

And then, the ornaments. Printed in HD Slate, then dipped. Hydro dipping, to be precise — that mesmerizing moment when swirls of color wrap themselves around a form in a perfect, unpredictable pattern. Chaos made decorative.

Setting the Scene

Finally, the setting itself.

A patch of tabletop transformed with fluffed-up cotton balls, shaped gently by hand into drifts and banks of make-believe snow. The assembled prints — deer, slide, tree, Yoda, presents, ornaments — found their places like actors on a festive stage.

It wasn’t just a holiday decoration anymore.

It was a scene. Built one layer at a time, through trial, error, and just enough stubborn delight to see it through.

Stay curious.
– Dr. O