The idea with these was that we'd plant succulents into each one (they kinda resemble Piranha Flowers right?!) There were some guests from interstate or overseas that couldn't take living plants back with them so 3D printed cacti were made in those cases (as pictured).
So what I started with was a heap of PVC Downpipe Stormcloud Sockets. These had the right shape, but were too long, so had to be cut down to look right. No particular measurement, just what felt 'about right' and then they were all cut to the same size...
I've used a file to smooth down the edges where the pipes were cut off and then the 3D printed bases were glued in with liquid nails.
Painting was next. I ended up using two different paints because the first one wasn't glossy, so I had to repaint every single pipe in the glossy green, but they came out looking pretty good I think. Each pipe had a square of insect fly screen put in the bottom to prevent soil from falling out.
Once everything was dry, it was time to fill the planters with soil and put the succulents in...
It was a fairly straight forward project, though doing it for around 50 guests took a long time! It was definitely worth it in the end. I've uploaded 3D printer files for this to Thingiverse - Super Mario Pipe parts. More than a year later, we still have our's, though we had to replace the succulent inside it, but it makes a very nice decoration at the entrance hallway in our house!
-i
