Starry Night Vase

The ability to print with multiple nozzles with minimal purge waste brings all sorts of possibilities. I have always been interested in the possibility of printing or applying art to all sorts of 3d printed forms but the limited ability to use many colors made it difficult. With the new 7 nozzle H2C, here is my exploration of applying a portion of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night to a simple vase to see what is possible.

This print is recommended only for a 7 nozzle H2C or any similarly capable machine. Anything else will require significantly more time and wasted purge filament. This project also has thousands of filament changes so make sure your PTFE tubes and AMSs are in good shape! It will certainly give any AMSs and Vortek systems a workout. Scroll to the end of this description to see a picture comparing print times + purge waste between different printers.

Print a vase or cup with a portion of the Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh for flowers or pencils. Optimized for H2C printers, use 7 colors and nozzles to print this vase which comes in different sizes.

Size L x W x H

Small (Cup): 85mm x 85mm x 100mm (3.3in x 3.3in x 3.9in)
Medium: 71mm x 71mm x 150mm (2.8in x 2.8in x 5.9in)
Large: 118mm x 118mm x 250mm (4.6in x 4.6in x 9.8in)

Artwork optimized for 7, 5 or 4 bambulab matte PLA colors

• Matte Charcoal (11101)
• Matte Dark Blue (11602)
• Matte Marine Blue (11600)
• Matte Sky Blue (11603)
• Matte Ice Blue (11601)
• Matte Apple Green (11502) (A alternative lighter green is recommended if you can find one, this one is a bit too saturated) (Can also be substituted with white)
• Matte Lemon Yellow (11400)

However you are able to use any similar color for other brands and it will likely still look good as long as you use a black, 4 shades of blue from dark to light, light yellow, and a light green.

Subtle texture added for additional depth and texture

A basic normal map was added to the exterior of the vase that follows the strokes of the artwork. Unfortunately due to the nature of multiple color changes, it gets lost in the many color changes on each layer. However it is very useful for areas where it is just one flat color to add extra depth and texture. It also has an added bonus of just adding general noise to help hide the general inconsistencies that comes with this many color changes in one print much like how fuzzy skin functions.

Color optimized for similar filament usage of the blue shades when using H2C 7 nozzle with purge saving mode enabled

The interior shell has different colors so that the blue shades use just about the same filament. Pretty important if you plan to print multiples of them over and over again and want minimal drifting blue PLA spools as that is the majority of the color in this print.

Artwork on the exterior and solid layers on the interior for water resistance

The color constant color changes introduces tons of gaps in the walls, so the interior walls are a solid color so that a solid wall is formed on the inside to help keep any possible water in. Of course printers, filaments, and print settings vary a lot in real life so its good to test it with a paper towel underneath the vase for 24 hours to check if it truly retains water. If not, you can always do the standard techniques for making anything waterproof such as an epoxy or resin coating or silicone sealants on the inside.

What it looks like when you don't use a H2C with 7 nozzles, this is an example slice result of printing just one medium vase:

*Purge saving mode is only available on H2C printers. This is simulated using a 1x purge multiplier on all printers as worse case, this likely can be lowered.

AMS maintenance is required. After printing, please check your PTFE tubes for wear. While printing and if you have the new 4-in-1 PTFE adapter II with the filament wiper, please remove and clean/check the wiper often, you can easily do this in-between filament changes. I recommend doing a check every 2k filament swaps at minimum. Adjust frequency if you constantly see it covered in microplastics. See the wiki for more info on how to do this. This means checking and cleaning it a couple times a day if you are printing my vases.

Update Log

12/17/25 Uploaded Medium and Small size profiles

12/24/25 Uploaded Large size profile

12/31/25 Uploaded version 2 of 7 color profiles with new method of color importing which has more accurate colors

1/5/25 Uploaded and updated pictures of 5 and 4 color versions of Medium and Small size vases

1/25/25 Uploaded and updated pictures of the large size 7, 5, and 4 color versions