3D Printed Bookmarks: Best Bookend STL Files To Download

There’s nothing quite like settling down and opening the pages of a good book to be welcomed by a page keeper that’s special to you, and that’s where 3D printed bookmarks come in to make your time lost in a book that much more magical.

While playing cards or old receipts will do in a pinch, meaningful bookmarks are a good way to keep a memento treasured memory nearby and safe. It could be a ticket stub from a first date, or it could be a boarding pass from a trip you’ll never forget.

For me, it’s a Vulpix Pokémon trading card that I’ve had since childhood.

3D printed bookmarks are another fantastic way to instantly find where you left off in a story that could be meaningful, or just aesthetically pleasing, to you. Whether you have a penchant for a particular book series or genre, or just want to personalize the way you mark your books, you’re sure to find a great 3D printed bookmark in the list we’ll discuss today.

How Do I 3D Print a Bookmark?

Because they’re designed to be thin and light, bookmarks are very easy to print. All you have to do is decide on the base look you’d like, and make sure it’s a good size to match the book or books you’re reading.

For those of you who don’t want to design a 3D printed bookmark from scratch, it’s as simple as finding a model online and sending it to your printer. As long as you stick to the settings recommended for your printer and filament, you should be fine.

How Thick Should a 3D Printed Bookmark Be?

If you’re 3D printing your own bookmark, a minimum of 0.7mm should be enough, but you should generally try to make sure it’s no thicker than 1-2mm.

If you print bookmarks any thicker, then you could risk the pages being too far apart, making it more likely to fall out. Worse, it could even damage or warp the book.

3D Printed Animal Bookmarks

3D Printed Owl Bookmark

• Where to Download: Thingiverse
• Designer: MosaicManufacturing
• Price: Free

Owls have been a universal symbol of knowledge and learning ever since the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena, was first portrayed as one. From Owl in Winnie the Pooh to Duolingo’s mascot, the nocturnal flyers have been seen as learned and sagely in literature, art, and pop culture.

Because of this, 3D printed owl bookmarks are a popular project for readers who like the classic image of a wise bird to represent the knowledge we acquire through reading, no matter what the text. And of all the ones I found in my travels, this delightfully doe-eyed little hooter is by far my favorite.

It’s cute, it’s noticeable, and it’s sure to grab the attention of any reader who happens to enjoy the late-night company of our wise avian friends.

If you’d rather have something a little more subtle and easier to print, then you can also check out this sleepy owl bookmark that you can 3D print easily and with minimal post-processing.

3D Printed Cat Bookmark

• Where to Download: Cults3D
• Designer: CJ3DPRINT
• Price: $0.70

Cats have been strangely omnipresent across the internet, symbolizing many things from bad luck to good nature. Cuddly or scratchy, domesticated or not, cats are here to stay. Naturally, the web’s obsession with the feisty felines means there are 3D printed cat bookmarks aplenty to help you find your place in a book.

Which, let’s face it, is more helpful than the real things ever are.

I, of course, had a lot of 3D printed cat bookmarks to choose from, and it was quite difficult. Overall, I adore this hanging cat bookmark more than the others. It’s more creative than a simple cat face peeping over a book page (though that is pretty cool too) and has a cartoonish charm that I just can’t help but love.

Though if you’re more a fan of the realistic-looking 3D printed bookmarks, then why not check out this cat head which seems to cheekily peek out from the pages in an oddly endearing way.

3D Printed Shark Bookmark

• Where to Download: Thingiverse
• Designer: lwanger
• Price: Free

In an odd quirk of the English language that I love but have never fully understood, we tend to use strange words to describe reading habits, particularly violent-sounding words normally associated with eating. A ravenous reader will devour books, for example.

Given this strange idiomatic choice that we’ve all just kind of accepted, it’s not too farfetched that 3D printed shark bookmarks are used to represent just how many pages we consume in an average week.

Sharks are often used as a symbol for ravenousness, after all, and they also tend to get a bad rap. So if you love books and appreciate sharks, then you’ll probably love this 3D printed shark bookmark for the next time you sink your teeth into a good read.

3D Printed Dinosaur Bookmarks

• Where to Download: Thingiverse
• Designer: Erael68
• Price: Free

Dinosaurs are a fascination for many, the extinct lizard- or bird-hipped monsters have long been the topic of study and debate to the point where we’re still discovering new things about them even today. Of course, this means there’s a homespun intrigue to them too.

Whether you’re an amateur or professional paleontologist, or just a fan of Jurassic Park, 3D printed dinosaur bookmarks like the one above will be a great use of your 3D printer for your next read.

As well as more traditional dinosaur looks, you can also 3D print this adorable swimming Loch Ness Monster bookmark or the delightful little T-Rex from Dino Run, the fun little Chrome platform game that helps remove some of the frustration of a downed internet connection.

3D Printed Bookmarks from Famous Franchises

3D Printed Harry Potter Bookmarks

• Where to Download: Printables
• Designer: KC Oritz
• Price: Free

While I’ve never been a big fan of the franchise myself (though I’ll admit Goblet of Fire is pretty good), Harry Potter, despite seeming like a fad, is apparently here to stay. Its impact on pop culture is quite difficult to ignore.

I myself have friends with at least the first four Harry Potter novels on their shelves despite them never having read a book in their lives!

While there are quite a few 3D printed Harry Potter bookmarks out there, I think these ones, designed to depict the colors of the respective Hogwarts houses, are the best. This is mainly because many fans of the franchise, and even non-fans who are just curious, will have a particular house that they associate with.

Even I took an online test, it said I was a Ravenclaw but all my friends argue Slytherin. I think I should be offended, but they’re probably right.

These 3D printed bookmarks are perfect if you’re a fan of the book series on your next readthrough, and make excellent gifts for any fellow Potterheads you might know.

While designed to be in multicolor, fear not, these bookmarks are designed to be 3D printed with a single extruder, so you won’t need a dual extruder to get the desired effects as long as you follow the simple instructions included with the files above.

3D Printed Groot Bookmark

• Where to Download: Cults3D
• Designer: NOLO728
• Price: Free

Much like Harry Potter, the impact that superhero movies has had on our pop culture is difficult to ignore no matter what your stance. Though comic book adaptations have been around for decades, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is arguably the most culturally significant franchise in modern history.

And while they take much less time to read, it’s not a bad idea to have a bookmark handy when you pick up a comic book either.

While it may be a little insensitive to use a character who’s effectively a tree to mark a book made of paper, it’s hard to deny that this 3D printed Baby Groot bookmark is a pretty cool way for any Marvel fan to mark their page.

And if you’re not a fan of Groot, or just don’t know much about Guardians of the Galaxy in general, then you’ll be happy to know that there are plenty of other Marvel bookmarks out there. Iron Man’s head and Hulk’s fist are also available as 3D printed bookmarks for any comic book nerd.

Buster Sword Bookmark

• Where to Download: Creality Cloud
• Designer: YEG Squirtle
• Price: Free

Since its release in 1997, Final Fantasy VII has been widely considered the benchmark against which all JRPGs are measured. While not my personal favorite of the franchise (I’m a sucker for X), I have to admit that the shape of Cloud’s iconic Buster Sword makes it an ideal 3D printed bookmark.

The ridiculously long blade is printed to include a gap so it can slip onto the page, and the hilt of the sword is designed to stop at the top of a closed book to make finding your page a breeze.

I may be showing my age here, but I can’t help but think about how awesome this 3D printed bookmark would be for marking a relevant page in a Final Fantasy strategy guide.

Pokémon Bookmarks

• Where to Download: Cults3D
• Designer: JVGJEKKE
• Price: ~$3

Ending this portion of the list with one of the biggest multi-platform franchises of all time, Pokémon! These bookmarks in particular are simple clip-style marks that any 3D printer can handle, and feature some of the biggest names in the game’s early history.

Featuring beloved pocket monsters like Pikachu, Charmander, Gengar, Dragonite, and Lucario, they’re perfect 3D printed bookmarks for any gamer, especially if they happen to have recently picked up the seldom talked about Pokémon Adventures manga.

3D Printed Bookmarks as Gifts

While any one of the 3D printed bookmarks we’ve seen here today would work well as gifts, sometimes you want something a little more special to show a loved one how much you appreciate them on a special day or even just for fun.

So here are a few 3D printed bookmarks designed to be given as gifts to any book lover in your life.

3D Printed Mother’s Day Bookmark

• Where to Download: Thingiverse
• Designer: craeen
• Price: Free

Mother’s Day invites a lot of possibilities for gifts. Breakfast in bed and heartfelt cards are all well and good, but the more traditional households out there will instead make their own gifts. Whether it’s a shop or pottery class project, or a handmade piece of knitwear, making a gift yourself is a wonderful way to tell your mother or mother figure how much you cherish her.

3D printed bookmarks for mother’s day can be just about anything, but my personal favorite is this flower-patterned print that looks lovely and is open for customization so you can add a name or pet name as you like.

3D Printed Christmas Bookmark

• Where to Download: Thingiverse
• Designer: kendel3d
• Price: Free

I may be one of the few people out there who actually loved getting books for Christmas as a kid, and even though I always had my trusty Vulpix card, I adored getting bookmarks too. Since I had way more free time back then, I often had more than one book in my backpack at any given time. Because of this, I had plenty of use for bookmarks.

3D printed Christmas bookmarks are a good way to give the gift of a page marker to the big reader in your life who may have too much on their to-read list already. This adorable Santa, peeping over the book, is a cute and thoughtful bookmark to 3D print as the next Christmas gift to your favorite bibliophiles.

3D Printed Sant Jordi Bookmark

• Where to Download: Thingiverse
• Designer: OJ46
• Price: Free

Sant Jordi falls on the 23rd of April and is effectively the Catalan equivalent of Valentine’s Day. Men and women who are close to each other exchange gifts whether they’re in a romantic relationship or not, and traditionally men would give women flowers while the women gave men books.

Understandably, that tradition doesn’t exactly hold up in modern society. When I was living out there in my twenties, I was relieved to see that many members of the younger generation had chucked this arguably sexist tradition in favor of simply giving whatever gifts the receiver would enjoy.

But of course, there are those who would choose to uphold some elements of the old ways, though that doesn’t mean they can’t be modernized. I argue that giving the gift of a 3D printed bookmark in the shape of a flower, like the rose one linked here, is a much more enlightened way of upholding the custom.

Bonus: 3D Printed Bookends

Now that you’ve got a lot of ways to mark your pages, it may be time to consider what to do with your books after you’ve reached the back cover.

3D printed bookends are a fun and creative way to display these books on a mantlepiece, shelf, or bookcase that isn’t yet full enough to have the books stand on their own.

While there are far too many to discuss here today (I’ll probably cover it in a future article), you can choose from many different kinds like these Kung Fu stickmen bookends, Cowboy/Cowgirl bookends, and even ones based on Valve’s famous videogame Portal.

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