Custom Photo Lithophane

About this piece

Lights off, it sits on the shelf as a quiet white panel. Switch the base on and the photograph appears — warm, glowing, every face lit from behind. A lithophane is a photograph printed in layers. Thick where the shadows fall, paper-thin where the light needs to come through. It's an old idea — they were carving these into porcelain two hundred years ago — made now on a 3D printer. Send me any photo and I'll make one for your dad. His grandkids. The two of them thirty years ago. The dog he pretends not to like. WHAT YOU GET A 230 × 120 mm panel printed in white PETG, on its own light base. Plug it in and set it on a desk, a shelf, or the bedside table. PETG is tougher and more heat-tolerant than the PLA most of these are printed in — it holds its shape sitting close to a warm light, and it takes a knock without cracking. SENDING YOUR PHOTO Once you've ordered, you'll get an email — just reply with your photo attached. Vertical shots work best, framed head-and-shoulders with a little room around them. Send the original from your camera roll rather than a screenshot or something re-downloaded from Facebook, so the fine detail holds. MADE TO ORDER Printing starts when your photo arrives, not when you order. Allow around a week from that point — a few days on the printer, then Australia Post or free Sydney pickup. Working to a deadline? Message me before you order and I'll tell you honestly whether it'll make it. Taking a limited number of orders at a time, so each one gets proper attention.