Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland LIthophane

“Alice and the Caterpillar” is one of the best known illustrations created by John Tenniel for Lewis Carroll's “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass”. Tenniel's style yields especially rich sculptural details in high relief in lithophane form, making a delightful image that looks great printed in several different shades - or even a rainbow, with color change filament.

Bambu's frame for the Bambu CMYK LED Backlight Board (FAZ007) is included in the print profile. Comparable backlight panels may be available at online electronics retailers. Another MakerWorld user has designed a lighting system using Bambu's 2-contact white LED strips (https://makerworld.com/en/models/862322#profileId-812830), although soldering is required.

The frame has a stand component that can shake loose during printing. If you encounter problems, add a raft or other support, or consider using a glue stick.

Lithophane examples made using LOCYFENS 5-Color Change PLA and EL'EGOO Beige PLA. Frame made using Bambu Lab Matte PLA in Dark Brown, with the light guide plate (diffuser) printed with Kingroon PLA Plus.

Commercial license available.

How to Print a Great-Looking Lithophane

The print profile will take some minutes to slice. This is normal. This lithophane will print vertically, between two supports.

Even though only the bottom edge of the lithophane is in contact with the print bed, it is still recommended to reduce the bed temperature to somewhere in the Bambu Lab recommended range of 40 - 55 degrees C to minimize warping and heat creep.

A lithophane printed at 50 C on top, and 65 C below:

While this lithophane image looks ok, the end product is actually quite poor without crisp corners and edges.

You will find a few very small burrs of plastic on the edge of the lithophane when the supports have been taken off. These were points of attachment to the support. These are normal and should be trimmed off with your hobby knife.

It's strongly recommended to take the following steps before printing this lithophane:

• Wash your build plate with a mild, oil repelling detergent (such as Dawn), and rinse and dry thoroughly.
• Calibrate the filaments being used, including Bambu Lab filaments.
• Reduce the bed temperature from 65 degrees C to somewhere in the Bambu recommended range of 40 C - 55 C. Alternatively, you could use a cool “Cryo Grip” type plate, but this has not been tested with this lithophane.
• Your local conditions and materials will vary, so you may have to experiment.
• Important Note: the transmission of light through plastic lithophanes, as through any other media (including air) is subject to the inverse-square law. The intensity of light from a point source decreases in proportion to the square of the distance from the source.
  • This means that if you double the distance between a light source and the lithophane, the light intensity drops to one-fourth. Triple the distance? The intensity drops to one-ninth, and so on.
  • Lithophanes must receive enough light sufficient to diffuse through the medium, illuminating all parts so they can be perceived correctly by the eye.
  • Therefore, only use strong light placed close behind the lithophane to prevent the loss of light due to the inverse-square law.

Lithophanes Make a Memorable and Elegant Gift with custom designed “Vienna” & “Chantilly” Lithophane Gift Boxes with compartments for a frame, USB cable, and storage for up to four 144mm x 108mm lithophanes.   Learn More

The original image used to create this lithophane is in the public domain.