This two-piece, collapsible display stand works for holiday ornaments, tatted lace, decorative eggs, and other small artwork. It easily comes apart at the base while also being sturdy enough to securely hold almost any artwork.
Why I designed it
My mom is an avid tatter. She teaches it, blogs about it, attends conventions for it, and has a lot of her work on display around her house. Having that much work needs a proportional amount of display stands, however. Rather than buy them at the craft store or order them online, she asked me to design one for her.
Her favorite display stand was one made from a tube of clear plastic, bent into a circle at the base with a tall, hooked arm to hold up the ornament. It was sturdy, strong, reliable, and didn’t distract from the piece on display. She didn’t like that it was difficult to store, though; it didn’t fold flat. This made it annoying to pack for going to conventions.
Initial concept
Most of my mom’s work displays best on a 6″ (15cm) tall stand, so I targeted that for the final size. Given that it needed to fold flat, that gave me two options: some sort of hinge, or a tab-and-slot design. I chose to use the latter since it’s simpler to design and easier to 3D print.
This style of display stand is, at its core, two intersecting flat surfaces. The base makes one flat surface, while the upright arm is the other surface intersecting the first. Breaking the design into these two surfaces made it much easier to plan how the pieces fit together.
Designing how the pieces connect
To keep the design simple, I chose to use the end of the upright arm as the tab to fit into the base’s slot. I wanted the two pieces’ surfaces to be level with each other once assembled, so I shaved off a bit from the upper and lower sides of the arm to create the tab.
Once I double-checked the tolerances to make sure the pieces would fit together without being too loose or too tight, I sent the first prototype to the 3D printer.
I had to make some small adjustments after the first prototype. When a 3D printer tries to bridge a gap without any support scaffolding, the freshly added plastic can droop slightly. Since the base has a bridge just like this (the “ceiling” of the slot), it affected my design. This meant the fit for the tab and slot were tighter than I wanted, so I modified my files to account for the drooping.
The hook
This was thankfully fairly straightforward. I brought the arm of the display stand up in a gentle curve, then tightened the curve to start the hook. A small curl right on the end prevents strings or hangers from slipping off the hook accidentally.
At first, I wanted to taper the hook inward to a point, but I decided to keep the design simple and easy to print instead. Since the upper arm of the stand prints on its side, a tapered hook would mean there would be a gap above the print bed. This can be solved by adding support scaffolding under any elevated section but at the cost of a smooth and clean surface finish. Supports take time and effort to clean up, something I try to avoid with any designs I intend to sell finished prints of.
Testing the stand’s strength
Out of curiosity, I wanted to see how much weight the finished display stand could hold without breaking. I assembled a prototype, hung a small loop of cord from the hook, and then set it on a shipping scale. Carefully, I pulled the loop downward while watching the scale’s readout.
To make a long story short, the stand can easily hold up to 1lb (0.5kg).
I expected the stand to snap somewhere, or maybe the base and arm would come apart. Admittedly, I should have known I was turning the stand into a simple spring. Instead of breaking or disassembling, it launched itself clear across the room. As I pulled it downward, the potential energy stored in the arm turned very quickly into kinetic energy, and the display stand went flying.
My main takeaway is that I won’t be able to exceed the stand’s weight capacity before physics does some other really interesting things. Lesson learned.
Two different base options
Once the core design was complete, I decided to offer two options for a base. One is more minimalist, with a simple curved bar, and the other curls inward at the end.
The two have no functional difference; it’s purely an aesthetic preference. I know that not everyone likes utilitarian, minimalist design, especially in the crafting community, so I added some subtle flair to suit their tastes.
Regarding sales, it’s split fairly evenly between the two base styles. Some customers have even ordered a mix of both.
Tatting patterns featured:
- Interwoven Picot Medallion designed by Cajah Reed
- Pansy in purples: from Priscilla Tatting book No. 2
- Small blue snowflake: Star in 2 Colors designed by Inga Madsen
- Inverted Snowflake designed by Martha Ess
- Ice Drop designed by Diane Cadematori