Print3d Place

3d Lithophane Prints

What are lithophanes?

Modern lithophanes were first produced in Europe during the 1820s. Their name comes from the greek words litho and phainen which mean “to cause to appear.” The original process to create lithophanes, called email ombrant, was first developed by a Frenchman named Paul de Bourging in 1827. A Brit named Robert Griffith Jones bought the right to produce lithophanes in 1828 and sold production licenses to English factories. Hundreds of thousands of lithophanes were made in the 1800s throughout Europe and in United States. Some scholars suggest that the idea originally came from China during the Tang or Ming Dynasties, but there is no known lithophane plaque produced anywhere in China prior to 1800.

The earliest lithophanes were made by carving an image into wax, creating a plaster gypsum (or sometimes metal) mold from the wax, and casting porcelain at 2000 degrees C. Porcelain lithophanes would often crack from thermal stresses during this process, and finished lithophanes were typically 1.5 to 6mm thick. These characteristics made lithophane production labor intensive, risky, and expensive. Common scenes focused on religion, portraits, literature, and artistic masterpieces. Lithophanes were incorporated in decorations, fine china, and even the bottom of beer steins (to let you know when to refill).

Lithophanes have become easier to make with the development of new methods of manufacture. In the 1900s, the advent of CNC machining made possible the production of lithophanes by carving the lithophanes from translucent, nonporous materials. This greatly decreased the risks associated with producing a lithophane. Today, the most common way to create a lithophane is by 3D printing them from plastic or resin. The 3D printing process is always quite tricky, but can result in exquisite lithophanes for significantly less labor and material cost than either casting or CNC machining. 3D printed lithophanes can easily include an interface to a backlight, so that their image is visible.

Wikipedia:

“A lithophane (French: lithophanie) is an etched or molded artwork in very thin translucent porcelain that can be seen clearly only when back lit with a light source. It is a design or scene in intaglio that appears "en grisaille" (in gray) tones.

A lithophane presents a three-dimensional image – completely different from two-dimensional engravings and daguerreotypes that are "flat". The images change characteristics depending on the light source behind them. Window lithophane panel scenes change throughout the day depending on the amount of sunlight. The varying lightsource is what makes lithophanes more interesting to the viewer than two-dimensional pictures.

The word "lithophane" derives from Greek "litho", which is from "lithos" which means stone or rock, and "phainein" meaning "to cause to appear" or "to cause to appear suddenly". From this is derived a meaning for lithophane of "light in stone" or to "appear in stone" as the three-dimensional image appears suddenly when lit with a back light source.”

How it works; make your purchase on our shopping page and send print3dplace@print3dplace.com your images or drop to print3dplace google drive, The images can be cherished photos or a personal drawing you created or even a favorite quote and we can make it into a beautiful 3d printed lithophane. We have a variety of styles and sizes, choose the one that best fits you. The images need to be single images (no collages) and it can be a .jpg or .png file type.

Within a two weeks you will have a beautiful lithophane and frame at your door step ready to show others.

These are a great idea for birthdays, Christmas, Mothers day, Anniversaries, or even Flag Day. You can put them on your end table, or display them on the office windows, or hang them on your wall.

School pictures will never be the same!!

We can not print copyright images or files.