Magical 3D Printed Bonsai Tree Pot with Lights Resembling Hobbit House from LOTR: Interview with Annie Moberg

3D printing can bring a real fairy tale to your life. Using this technology, you can decorate your world with unique items from your favourite movies and books, create beautiful accessories, life-like figurines and astonishing models. You can 3D print a magical bonsai tree pot that reminds of a miniature Hobbit house from The Lord of The Rings. You can even add lights into LOTR Hole windows as Annie Moberg did it.

The Hobbit Hole bonsai tree turned out into a fantastic project. It can warm you up in the cold winter evenings and please your eyes in the early spring days that lack the sun rays.

Miniature Hobbit House Bonsai Tree Pot

Gambody – Premium 3D printing marketplace gives an opportunity to virtually travel to a fabulous region from J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional Middle-earth, the Shire, through the miniature LOTR Hole model.

The Hobbiton bonsai pot 3D printing model was designed by Docik. The village Hobbiton, located in the centre of the Shire, boasts many tiny houses with round windows and doors. But one house that belongs to Bilbo Baggins is super special. Not only it is famous thanks to The Lord of The Rings movie scenes filmed in New Zealand, but it is also immortalized in Docik’s 3D printing replica.

The miniature Hobbit House Bag End is a 2-in-1 project. You can 3D print it with the roof and artificial tree to display on a shelf or make a 3D printed bonsai tree pot without the roof and the tree.

3D Printed Bonsai Tree Pot: Interview with Annie Moberg

Annie Moberg chose this second option and planted a real bonsai tree inside the Hobbit Hole. The talented woman agreed to answer some questions regarding her 3D printing background and discuss her 3D printed bonsai tree pot aka miniature LOTR Hobbit Hole project with Gambody blog readers.

1. Annie, it is a pleasure to meet talented women in Gambody Facebook community. Can you tell us more about yourself, your hobbies and interest in 3D printing technology?

I am a 50-year-old married art nerd. I am an embroidery designer and do art in almost every discipline. Fourteen years ago, I was in a big accident and ended up in a wheelchair. I paint for pain relief.

2. When did you first try to 3D print? Was it earlier than 2019? Do you remember your first 3D printed model?

My 10-year-old horse died on 4 June 2019, and I lost my way to go on. I needed to do something new.

I had never even seen a 3D printed item. But when I googled the net about making something special for the horse memorial place, I found free STL files for 3D printing a white horse model resembling mine. So, I asked my hubby to buy a 3D printer for me.

The only problem was the printing bed limited to 14 x 14 x 14 cm (5.5” x 5.5” x 5.5”) which would make the horse too small.

I have a medical alert dog which is a Border Collie. Thus, the first model I printed after a test cube was a poorly made Border Collie figurine.

One week later, I bought a Creality CR-10S 3D printer and finally made the horse model.

3. How popular is 3D printing in Sweden?

I lately have understood that 3D printing is rather significant in Sweden, but I did not realize it at first. There are some talented 3D designers in Scandinavia, and being a part of Instagram made me see how many 3D printing enthusiasts live here.

4. Your most recent shared work is an impressive miniature Hobbit-house bonsai tree pot. How much do you like fantasy novels the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by author J. R. R. Tolkien?

Fantasy is vast for me. My favourite fandoms are Harry Potter (as was the first Gambody diorama I did), Game of Thrones and The Lord of The Rings. I grew up reading the Hobbit fantasy novel.

5. Why did you choose to craft the miniature Hobbit-house bonsai tree pot? Is your house full of flowers? Do you like to take care of plants?

I can’t count how many times I have seen LOTR in my family. Every time I see the Shire, my wish is to paint it. So, when I found the STL files of a miniature Hobbit Hole bonsai tree pot on Gambody marketplace, I just needed to make it.

It was a fun thing to do, uniquely when combining it with my hobby of growing plants.

6. Can you recollect the process of 3D printing the miniature Hobbit-house bonsai tree pot?

When I bought the Hobbiton bonsai pot STL files, I printed the model and started to paint it with the airbrush. I like to plan every print I make by choosing colours, reference media’s, etc. As an artist, I use a lot of gesso and modelling paste in my prints.

I made the Harry Potter figurine before working with the miniature Hobbit-house bonsai tree pot, and I know Gambody STL files are pretty flawless.

7. Which 3D printer, filament type and settings did you use? Did you scale the files or choose to print the model as it was at 100% scale?

I used one of my FlashForge Guider 2S to print the bottom of the Hobbit Hole and the other FlashForge Guider 2S to make the inner pot.

I use the 0,4 nozzle and print with 0,18 mm layer thickness. And I print rather slow to avoid supports if it can go without them and to make smooth prints. Because of my body situation, sanding is very painful for me; that’s why I take care of printing as smooth as possible.

I used 3DJake ecoPLA filament for the project, and I printed at 70 % scale.

8. Did you experience any challenges while making the miniature Lord of the Rings Hobbit-inspired bonsai tree pot?

No, I had not a single problem with printing. I have made a lot of Gambody models, and I have no problems at all.

9. Can you describe the stages of adding lights into the wall between the pots of this fairy-tale Hobbit Hole? Was it a complicated task?

I popped the inner plant and put it in the big printed pot, and there was a gap between the internal and outside walls which seemed just perfect for making real windows with lights.

I wanted to make a fairy tale for my daughter and granddaughter. We love to spend time together, and I wanted the Hobbit Hole house to be a special gift for Christmas.

So, I painted the inner pot’s outsides with a warm golden colour, and then I taped fairy lights on batteries to the inner pot outsides. I made it shine warm, and the light looks soft thanks to the golden paint. The batteries are hanging on the backside, so they are easy to replace when necessary. 

10. How did you combine painting The Hobbit house-styled 3D printed bonsai tree pot and decorating it with the fake moss? Where did you get the real moss and a bonsai tree for this particular project?

I love airbrushing and enjoy pastes of a diorama. This bottle of fake moss makes a silky texture, and it is coloured as real plants. So, I painted all the grassy parts of the build with artificial moss. If you run your finger over it, it does feel like velvet.

I also had some fake long grass that I cut to smaller pieces and mixed with gesso, green colour and moss. And I just dabbed it around the brim of the outer pot.

I found a real bonsai tree at the plant shop along with real green moss. Thus, I planted the tree in the inner Hobbit Hole pot and covered the messy soil with real moss. My granddaughter is just 1.5 years old, and I know she wants to feel everything on her way. And loose soil would be everywhere.

11. How big is the final planter? How heavy is it?

The 3D printed bonsai tree pot is about 27 cm (11 inches) long. Its height is about 47 cm (18 inches).

The miniature Hobbit house planter weighs about 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs).

12. Are you planning to add tiny models of The Hobbit house residents to this bonsai pot?

I was planning to make a figurine of Bilbo in resin, but I can’t use my resin printer because of my asthma, so I had to skip that idea.

However, the Hobbit Hole inspired me to print a whole lot of fairy houses. We are going to hide them in our large garden. They will help to “illustrate” GD stories about the fairies as we can go on adventures to find the fairy houses in the garden.

13. You mentioned that the Hobbit house bonsai planter was 3D printed and painted as a gift to someone special. How happy was the receiver of this gift?

When my daughter was growing up, I read the stories for her, and she always loved fantasy tales. She also tells stories to her little daughter.

The Hobbit House was my Christmas gift to my daughter. Now, every day Emma, my granddaughter, wants to knock on the miniature door, walk with her fingers on the fairy stairs and look through the round windows to see the small Hobbit. I hoped for this reaction, and it makes me happy.

14. Which is your first 3D printing model to make in 2020?

Well, I have a lot of ideas about what to print in 2020. One of my first prints was a big GOT diorama.

I also made the Fell beast:

And now all my four printers run to make next outdoor diorama from The Lord of The Rings. It is scaled at 150%, and I am excited! 

The beautiful 3D printed bonsai tree pot in LOTR style excited many members of Gambody Facebook community. The imaginative presentation by Annie Moberg enlivens children’s fairy tales even in the grown-up souls. It gives way to imagination and new dreams. You can also decorate your garden with a miniature Hobbit house from The Lord of The Rings, or choose a different 3D printing model on Gambody.com to turn into life this year.