Cardboard Christmas Tree

If you prefer that your holiday fire hazards be man-made and smell slightly of burnt paper, look no further. I present to you the laser-cut Christmas tree.

This project was my first crack at using 123D Make to create something. Despite being a complete 3D noob, this came out looking pretty fantastic. The full-on release should be awesome. (I did cheat a little by stealing PenfoldPlant's 3D model to slice into bits, but y'all can scrounge up your own models when the time comes.)

The tree stands about five feet tall, and has a six foot circumference. It would make a terrible supermodel, but it looks rather nice as a tree. I made this for my girlfriend's cousin and her family, so I needed it to work or risk being "that weird guy who makes ugly Christmas trees." I think I succeeded in being "that weird guy who makes rather nice Christmas trees." I left them to decorate it, and I trust that it will come out looking nice. They have impeccable taste.


Feel free to download the .eps files and go nuts with your own tree. Resize to your heart's content.

Step 1 Print files/cut stuff out

As this project is more about the product than the process, we'll skip the design portion and get right into the printing.

I used a laser cutter because I have access to one. If I had to, I could have easily used a good razor and a lot of patience to cut the images out of cardboard using paper templates.

If you'll be cutting out by hand, maybe make a trip to the rasterbator to change the sizes, ensure that your tree is bigger than A4, and generally make your templates easier to manipulate. I didn't do any of those things - laser cutter, remember? - but you might want to try it if you're having trouble getting from the file to a template you want.

Comments

[Nelyan]

Hahaa, I did a flat version to hang up on the wall to be out of reach of my cats, but wow, I want to do THIS ONE next year! Like Susanrm said, it has shelves for presents! And you could incorporate my toothpick-technique to hang the ornaments if the shelved are filled with presents.

[jessyratfink]

Very cute. :) I wanted to do something like this, but went with fabric because I could not stomach cutting all that cardboard by hand. :P

[susanrm]

It's got built-in shelves for presents!

[sunshiine]

Thanks for sharing this! It sure has personality! This would be amazing painted up with an artist brush! Oh I can really see that. Maybe snow covered with a pretty red bird perched on a branch! Ah snowflakes! Thanks for sharing!
Sunshiine

[artfulann]

Hmmm. Could you use the little niche areas as shelves? I've a table I got on freecycle that is basically this slip slot construction out of fiberboard.

[SHIFT!]

Awe-some! Papercraft Jesus would be proud!