Chelsea Griffin: Laser Cutting - Week 15

Concept: My sister is getting married in December and our niece, the flower girl, doesn't have a flower girl basket yet. I told my sister about this assignment and offered to make a basket for her and personalize it. My niece's favorite thing in the world is My Neighbor Totoro, so naturally, my sister and I came to the conclusion that that would be an ideal theme for her flower girl basket.

Vector Drawings

Rhino file

Before stain

After black stain/before varnish

Finished basket box

Technique: After drawing the images in Autodesk's Sketchbook, I utilized Illustrator's Image Trace program to create vector files. Unfortunately, when I brought it into the lab, my Illustrator file was less than ideal, so lab manager, Amanda Marder, was kind enough to correct my file via Rhino 5. I wasn't sure what size dowel rod I was going to use for the handle so I used a drill press once the wood was already as opposed to just using the laser engraving machine.

Materials: I used aspen plywood, which apparently burns pretty easily when being laser engraved, though it sanded off easily enough. I used black glass stain to help bring out the raster engravings and then finished it off with some medium walnut Watco Danish Oil.