← All posts
·4 min read
PLA vs resin: what your wall art is actually made of
We tested both for a year. Here is why the relief is PLA+ with a resin skin, and not the other way round.
Resin prints look incredible out of the vat: sharp edges, no layer lines, glassy surfaces. They are also brittle, yellow in sunlight and weigh a lot at 50 cm. We lost two plaques to a warm windowsill before we stopped.
Why PLA+ for the body
- Dimensionally stable up to 55 °C — fine for any living room.
- Light: a full relief is around 600 g, the whole plaque 1.6 kg.
- Sands beautifully and takes primer without a fight.
Why a resin skin on top
After sanding we brush on a thin UV resin coat and cure it. It fills micro-texture and gives the matte coat a perfectly even base. You get resin's surface with PLA's bones.
The best material is the one you forget about once it's on the wall.
The spec plate is a different story: it's engraved into black acrylic, because text wants crisp edges, not sanding.