"What filament do you use for that color?" Fair question. When you’re looking at one of our 3D printed fridge magnet frames or ornaments and you want to print your own from one of our STL files, the filament matters as much as the model does.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, Impressi Print earns from qualifying purchases. The product links in this post are affiliate links (paid links) — if you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only link to spools we have actually run on our own machines.

So here’s the whole answer: what we print in, why we print in it, how to pick filament for your own printer, and a running list of the exact spools behind the colors you see in our photos and videos.

Do you have to use your printer brand’s filament?

Short answer: no. Longer answer: the recommendation exists for real reasons, but they’re smaller than they sound.

When a printer manufacturer tells you to use their filament, what they’re really selling you is a tuned profile — a slicer preset with temperatures, flow rate, and cooling already dialed in for that exact plastic — and, on some machines, automatic spool recognition. Bambu Lab’s AMS, for example, reads an RFID tag on their own spools and fills in the material and color for you. Load a third-party spool with no tag and the system simply shows a question mark and asks you to pick the material yourself. That’s a five-second step, not a lockout. Third-party filament runs fine.

The other reason is quality control. A reputable OEM spool is consistently round, consistently 1.75 mm, and wound without tangles. That consistency is genuinely worth paying for — but plenty of independent brands hit the same ±0.02 mm tolerance for meaningfully less money.

And then there’s the honest problem: your printer’s brand may simply not make the color you want. OEM color ranges are narrow. If you need a specific matte sage green or a silk copper to match a customer’s kitchen, you’re going third-party. That’s not a compromise — it’s just how the market works.

One caveat worth a minute of your time: check your own printer’s warranty terms before you assume. Policies differ by manufacturer, and it’s a two-minute read that saves an argument later.

What we print our frames and ornaments in — and why

Every Impressi Print magnet frame and ornament is printed in standard PLA. Not PETG, not PLA+, not some engineering resin. Standard PLA, and we’re not apologetic about it.

Three reasons:

Cost. PLA is the cheapest good filament on the market. On a product that sells at a fridge-magnet price point, material cost is not a rounding error — it’s the margin.

Color selection. Nothing else comes close. Matte, silk, glitter, dual-color, wood-fill, marble, glow — the PLA shelf is enormous and every brand competes there first. If a customer wants a color, PLA almost certainly has it.

It’s the right plastic for the job. A fridge magnet lives indoors at room temperature, gets handled occasionally, and never carries a load. PLA prints at roughly 185–235 °C on a 50–60 °C bed with no enclosure, holds crisp detail better than anything else in its price class, and doesn’t warp. Choosing PETG here would cost more, print slower, string more, and buy us durability the product doesn’t need.

PLA vs. PETG vs. ABS/ASA, in plain terms

Filament	Nozzle / Bed	Softens around	Best for
PLA	185–235 °C / 50–60 °C	60–65 °C	Indoor decor, magnets, ornaments, detailed models
PETG	215–270 °C / 70–90 °C	80–82 °C	Parts that flex, get warm, or live in a car
ABS	230–255 °C / 95–110 °C	~105 °C	Functional parts — enclosure recommended
ASA	220–275 °C / 90–110 °C	~100 °C	Anything living outdoors in the sun

Ranges reflect published manufacturer guidance; always start with your spool’s own label.

That "softens around" column is the one people ignore. PLA starts going soft near 60 °C — comfortably above anything a kitchen throws at it, but well below the inside of a parked car in July or a south-facing windowsill. PLA also has the weakest UV resistance of the bunch and gets brittle with long sun exposure. On a refrigerator door, none of that matters. On a car dashboard or a mailbox, it matters a lot. That’s the whole rule.

Is PLA+ worth it?

"PLA+," "PLA Pro," "Tough PLA" — none of these are standardized terms. Every manufacturer blends their own additives, so PLA+ from one brand isn’t the same material as PLA+ from another. Independent mechanical testing has found the tradeoff isn’t what the marketing implies: modified PLA is often less stiff and no stronger under static load than plain PLA, but dramatically tougher on impact — it bends and absorbs energy instead of snapping clean. Great for a bracket that gets dropped. For a decorative frame that lives on a fridge, you’re paying roughly double for a property the part will never use. We stick with standard PLA and put the savings into more colors.

Three things that actually matter when you buy a spool

1. Diameter consistency. Look for a stated tolerance of ±0.02 mm or better. Inconsistent diameter means inconsistent extrusion, which shows up as blotchy walls and uneven top surfaces — exactly the flaws a customer notices on a flat decorative face.

2. Moisture. Every filament is hygroscopic; it pulls water out of the air. Wet filament crackles and pops as it prints, strings badly, and bonds weakly between layers. Store spools in sealed bins with desiccant. If a spool has gone damp, dry PLA at about 50 °C — and don’t push past 55 °C, because you’ll soften the coil right on the spool and fuse it into a tangle.

3. Finish, not just color. This is the one that separates a nice print from a sellable one. Matte PLA hides layer lines and photographs beautifully — it’s our default for frames. Silk PLA is glossy and metallic-looking but shows every layer line and every seam, so it needs clean retraction settings. Basic/standard PLA sits in between and is the most forgiving to print. Same color, three completely different products.

The exact filaments we use

This is the list people ask for. These are the spools behind the colors in our product photos and videos. We add to this list as we bring in new colors, highly recommend to bookmark this page!

Links below are Amazon affiliate links (paid links). Prices and availability change often — colorways get discontinued and renamed constantly in this industry, so double-check the color name on the listing before you order.

Brand & Color	Diameter & Finish	Why we use it	Amazon affiliate link
Blacks & Whites
Creality PLA — Black	1.75 mm · Standard	Our default for Black Frames	Linked Here
Creality PLA — White	1.75 mm · Standard	neutral white	Linked Here
Neutrals & Earth Tones
Overture Matte PLA - Chocolate	1.75 mm · Matte	Matte Chocolate - Brown Neutral	Linked Here
Reds, Pinks & Warm Tones
JustMaker PLA — Matte Red	1.75 mm · Matte	Matte Red	Linked Here
Blues & Greens
JustMaker PLA — Matte Green	1.75 mm · Matte	Matte Green	Linked Here
Metallics & Silks
Coming Soon
Specialty Finishes
Coming Soon

Don’t see a color from one of our photos? Message us and we’ll add it to this list.

The short version

Use your printer brand’s filament if it comes in the color you want and the price works. When it doesn’t — which is most of the time — buy from a reputable third-party brand with a stated ±0.02 mm tolerance, keep it dry, and take thirty seconds to set the material type manually. Standard PLA in the right finish will handle every fridge magnet, frame, and ornament you’ll ever print.

Want to print these yourself? Our STL files are available in the shop, alongside finished frames and ornaments if you’d rather we print them for you.

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3D printed fridge magnet frames, ornaments, and downloadable STL files.

Click Here for our Frame STL Files