Instead of using BoxMaker, I used a different box template from Obrary. After the laser engraving assignment, making this box was alot easier. I directly did my work in Rhino. This turned out to be the correct move, since the technicians found less errors than my Adobe Illustrator assignment. It was easier for them to pinpoint what I did in Rhino.
I made this box with the intentions of giving it away as a Christmas/birthday present to my boyfriend. "Ghippo" is based on this hippo plush that I won with my boyfriend at Dave & Buster's last year. We took a liking to it and named it "Ghippo" because it looks like a grumpy hippo. Afterwards, we would portray him with multiple character personalities like Grumpy Cat or Plusheen. "Ghippo" has an obsession for chocolate. Thus, the engraving of a bitten chocolate bar on top of his head. As a finishing touch, "Ghippo" wears a necktie, so I engraved it right beneath his face.
"Think about it!" is what we will tell each other when we have to make a decision. I found it amusing, so I thought about it and decided to have the quote laser cut there.
My boyfriend likes anchors, so as a surprise I cut and glued a piece of fabric of it onto the bottom of the box inside.
The box has been sandpapered down, conditioned, then stained with Red Oak 215 (all from Walmart). The wood I used was the black chalkboard from Home Depot. I was curious to see how it would perform under the laser cutter. In the end, as you can see, I ended up not using any of the black chalkboard side.
Amanda, the fabrication technician, suggested that I could have painted the box with chalkboard paint and it would have been cheaper and more effective than an actual chalkboard. The plastic from the chalkboard did slightly melt and made some tears, but Amanda was able to prevent that by handling it quickly. Therefore, laser cutting a chalkboard would work. However, it might not be worth it.
Now that I really looked into it, the chalkboard was definitely an impulse buy.
It was still a fun process. I appreciate woodwork alot more and I plan to laser cut a few more as presents for other folks.
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