11 Cool 3D Printed Vases You Can Print At Home Today

There’s no better way to turn a house into a home than by making your own decorations. Functional and decorative, vases offer virtually endless potential for creative and personal artworks to be proud of.

3D printing is no less an artist’s tool than a paintbrush or a chisel. While sculpting and pottery are some of the oldest art forms around, that doesn’t mean newer technologies don’t fit into the creative process, and such methods have been rising in popularity for a while now.

And so, 3D printed vases are a popular choice for homemade décor because you can make whimsical shapes and awesome designs that would take substantial skill to accomplish with traditional methods.

3D Printed Spiral Vases – Give ‘em a Whirl!

• Download: Printables
• Designer: Jobsmolders
• Price: Free

Beginning this article with my personal favorite, 3D printed spiral vases are some of the coolest looking 3D print vase types you can make.

Available in a variety of styles from simple to downright trippy, the spiral vase design popular not only for their unique looks, but also as flower pots as they can be made to resemble natural forms of many plants. While most of these look their best when printed or painted with more than one color, monochromatic 3D printed spiral vases still fit in well with a more minimalist décor.

For a simple spiral vase to 3D print, you can see that this design uses nice, twirling patterns perfect for fitting a single flower like a rose. If you’re a little more adventurous, then you can combine it with this 3D printed LED base for a nicely lit 3D vase to function as both fun decoration and some nice dim lighting for those quiet movie nights.

Keep in mind that there are separate files for the flow vase depending on your materials and hardware, so be sure to make it easy on yourself and your 3D printer by reading the instructions included in the link above.

If you want more of an artificial look with patterns still inspired by flowers themselves, there’s also this torpedo vase design that takes the form of a tulip in pre-bloom, or this unfolding flower vase that you can also light up to bring the feeling of a fresh spring to your home all year round.

My absolute favorite, however, is this Facet Spiral Vase because of its top-heavy design making it look like it’s growing right out of the mantle. This design comes free from maker Clockspring, who has some other vase designs included in the link above.

3D Printed Greek Vase – The New Old

• Download: Cults3D
• Designer: JWIZARD
• Price: $3

Modern technology isn’t limited to making modern designs. This 3D printed Greek vase looks like something right out of a museum.

Using matte PLAs in black and gold, this experimental design is a lot less complicated than it seems. Though it’s not quite as simple as letting your printer get to work. In order to showcase that chic look, you will need to pause the printing process to change the filaments to get the right colors in the right places.

If you want, you can also paint this vase in any way you like once it’s completed. Just keep in mind that you will need to scale up the dimensions of the vase’s STL files to get the right size you want, as the default may prove smaller than you’d think.

While the Greek vase above is my favorite of maker Eleni’s designs, the first rendition, found here, is a more minimalist and easier to print model. While the size is what’s important, you will need rainbow filament to mimic the impressive yet subtle colors right out of the printer.

While simpler, the sunset look of the Greek vase pictured below is too pretty to pass up.

Wilko V’s 3D Printed Vase Collections – An Even 20

• Download: Thingiverse
• Designer: Wilko V
• Price: Free

Creativity is always the name of the game when you aim to produce 3D prints for art and decoration, and 3D designer and maker Wilko V knocked it out of the park with some impressive, quality vase 3D prints.

With over 20 3D vase templates to choose from, many of which are in some whimsical and eye-catching shapes, as well as some planters for those of you who want to add function to these forms.

Speaking of, Wilko does suggest using any of their designs as pencil holders, flower pots, or just about anything else you like. Though they are attractive and very cool centerpieces, mantle decorations, or desk ornaments.

Heck, you can even turn one of these beauties into a uniquely styled wastebasket if you so choose. However you decide to use them, they are the perfect way to mix up your décor.

The selection ranges from cylinders, donuts, cubes, and many other patterns and shapes to go along with whatever theme or décor you’re going for. Each one of them is well worth a look and they’re all completely free of charge to download, print, and display today.

3D Printed Tendril Vase – Tentacles for Days

• Download: MyMiniFactory
• Designer: Clockspring
• Price: Free

Who said vases can’t have Lovecraftian details? No one, I assume, since it’s an admittedly odd thing to claim. Still, this tendril vase is a 3D printable piece of Eldritch memorabilia to go right in your living room.

Another design by Clockspring, the tendril vase is perfect for keeping long plants like cacti, but can also function as a storage box for DND dice or other game pieces.

Open to customization, this quality vase can be painted creatively to achieve the look of a plant or a horror from the deep, depending on your tastes and purposes.

If tendrils aren’t your thing, then you can also check out this gothic goblet model, its mesh design is perfect for either decoration or storage, and its shape is easily noticeable and is sure to stand out amongst your other decorations. Just don’t try to drink from it.

The Apex 3D Vase – Elegance Made Simple

• Download: MyMiniFactory
• Designer: Andrew Renolds
• Price: Free

Designed as part of a competition, the apex vase model is something of a callback to the spiral shape we’ve covered before but with a shallow bend to its design. Representative of rolling hills, this simple shape somehow manages to be both minimalist and outstanding at the same time.

The twisting shape fits well into any modern décor setting. Scaling this vase template before printing will allow you to make different sizes, and printing more than one in these sizes makes for a perfect nesting doll look that I personally love, especially as mantlepiece decorations.

With enough attention to detail, you can paint this 3D vase however you like. The patterns on the side might make precise painting more difficult, but a deft hand could turn this simple structure into a real masterpiece.

Or, if you prefer this design with just one or two colors within its layers, you can print this vase in whichever color you like and then airbrush the rest.

Faceted Decorative Vase – Sleek and Slender

• Download: Cults3D
• Designer: SLIMPRINT
• Price: $0.55

While one of the simplest on the list, the elegance of this 3D printed vase comes from its surface, which uses a repeating kite earring shape for a chic-looking vase that should get your attention without distracting the eye too much.

I prefer printing this design in darker colors, though the light-ish blue pictured here does add a shine to the surface that is pleasing to the eye. The standard shape within the files is fairly small, so you may want to alter the size before printing depending on your plan.

Just keep in mind that this faceted shape is decorative only, and according to the description by the maker, the design is not watertight. While this makes it perfect for fake plants, you won’t be able to keep anything living in there for very long.

While it can go anywhere, I find that the faceted 3D vase models are perfect if your nightstand is looking a little bare, or if your bookshelf needs a little more of a personal touch.

Some Tips to Keep in Mind Before Printing

While ceramic resin may be the best way to get that old-school vibe with your newly printed 3D vase, the evolution of art does mean you no longer need to create vases look like they were made on a pottery wheel. In fact, you can use just about anything to create a variety of styles to suit your home.

The easiest way to 3D print a vase is with an FDM printer. Read our buyer’s guide here

Ceramic printing is more difficult, but you can read our guide to ceramic 3D printing here

Modern looks, minimalism, and just about any aesthetic style will suit any home. So for plants and flowers, or just as a decorative item, in this article we’re going to look at some of the coolest designs for 3D vases we could find.

Just note that some of these designs are bottomless. If you’re printing vases for storage or plants, you’ll need to make sure you modify these vase templates to be suitable. Due to their simple shapes, scaling these templates is super simple. Just drag the file into your slicer, and manipulate it as you need! Just be sure the dimensions suit your needs before you go ahead and print.

It’s also worth reading the description and different details of each design to be sure they can function as you want them to. Some of these examples will need different settings like higher infill or supports, or even slight changes to their shape to work as flower pots, while others may need some assembly to work for different purposes.

That being said, almost every one of the designs featured here is free (one costs 55 cents), so get out there and give them a go even if you do need to use your slicing software to change a few things.