Beta day - four (Wood Inlay)

I have started a bunch of complex things that are giving me modeling/drawing trouble, so I decided to take a break and just do something quick and fun. Someone mentioned doodling, and although my work is mainly in 3D, I doodle all the time. I doodle on pretty much everything I own (it drives my wife nuts). So why not a laser doodle?

The Proofgrade material pack I received includes some very pretty ⅛” thick hardwood. I decided to make some tiles by doodling a line and then cutting it out of two different woods.

First I drew a quick line in fine point sharpie.

I took a picture with my phone and then ran it through Illustrator’s live trace (note doodles in paint marker on laptop ).

Then I put a piece of Walnut and one of Padauk into the Glowforge, and cut two copies of my line.

After a quick photonic zap I ended up with…

I am blown away by how easy this was, and how nice the results were. The Walnut is slightly thicker than the Padauk and it really shows off the crisp black line. Not sure yet how I will afix all the little pieces. They took me a while to get all the paper peeled off and arranged, and I knocked them out more than once. Maybe I will try glueing them to a piece of laser cut plywood as a backer board.

More soon.