As the spring 2018 semester approached the end, my fellow peer mentors and I wanted to show Shelly how much we appreciated her by creating a personalized cutting board. I had learned how to use the laser cutter only two months prior to this project, but I volunteered to create the design.
I wanted to create a simple design and decided to include her first initial and a wreath. It was hard to choose between the two designs above, but I chose the second one since it included flowers, which I loved. I imported the design into Inkscape, a free vector graphics software, and put the letter S inside of the wreath.
Then, I sent the file to the laser cutter to start etching the design onto the bamboo cutting board. After the first attempt, I realized that it was hard to see the design because there was no outline. I adjusted the settings to make the laser cutter trace just the outline, and it made it easier to see the design. The video below shows the second attempt.
My fellow peer mentors and I presented her with this gift, and she loved it!
Reflection
I should have etched the design on the back of the cutting board instead of the front. Shelly can't use the front side because food might get stuck inside the crevices. Also, I should have checked to see if the bamboo cutting board was treated with any chemicals. It turned out that it was only polished with food grade mineral oil, so no harmful fumes emitted. However, it could have been very dangerous. Next time, I will be more careful by researching exactly what kind of material I am cutting or etching with the laser cutter.
Resources
If you would like to use my design, please feel free to do so! I created files for both wreaths. Please note that these files do not include the letter S.
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