Faking it

If you want a strong colour look for your lithophanes(resin or FDM printed), you can always fake it rather than looking for the perfect filament or resin mix.

This process can give your lithophane a completely differently look and mood by just gluing or otherwise attaching a colour acetate sheet to the back of the finished print (we use Gorilla Glue Epoxy US/UK*). Perhaps a little more care is needed to cut the acetate sheet than the pictured one(should have used our Cricut machine).

Acetate sheets can be purchased from most craft, hobby or stationary stores as well as the likes of Amazon. We used a 200 micron thick sheet here and perhaps there’s a little too much red. The thinner the sheet the more subtle the effect so a 140 micron sheet(the most common acetate thickness) might work best for this lithophane. 

If you wanted to get fancy, you could layer up thinner sheets for a gradient or just cut out small sections and cover the parts you want highlighted. Buy a reasonable priced acetate sheet multipack in a variety of colours and experiment.

Red acetate sheet cut and glued to back of the lithophane.

Looks normal from the front

Finished Lithophane

Backlit with a standard white LED light.

Original (Gadunky Restored)Artwork

*Please note that the Amazon links on this page are affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you anything extra if you use the them, but we get a few cents on the purchase and it helps keep the site going. If you prefer not to use the links that’s ok, just search for the products on Amazon(or elsewhere) directly.