Cherry Blossom Branch

Cherry blossom branch remixed from a really cool but difficult to print file. It comes out gorgeous, I haven't seen a better cherry blossom flower print.

Four colors are used in the file, though it would be easy to use paint in place of some or most of them. Supports are going to be necessary for the flowers and stem. You will also need a big dab of glue for the interior of each flower, super glue is great.

The difficult part in this design is the stamens, which in the original file wouldn't even show up in Bambu slicer. Hoofiepuppet remixed the interior of the flower but it was a little confusing and laborious, so I designed a new version that's much easier to work with. The stamens print flat, and you adjust their positioning by dipping them in boiled water and bending with tweezers or another small tool. This came out looking better than printing them in a vertical position, it's easy to get a pseudo-random distribution that looks really nice. In the images a bit of yellow acrylic paint was added to the tips (anthers, which are covered in pollen) which really enhances the look.

Another trick is to print the stick vertically, that way the layer lines form as rings along the branch which looks better than if you print it flatter and helps if you want to use paint. Manual supports and a brim have been added to the branch object give it stability and to support the pins the flowers attach to. I printed it in light brown and used dark brown and gray acrylic paint to add some depth.