Welcome back to Frank’s Garage. In this quick bite we’re exploring layer cutting that lets us build artwork by combining different layers of images. We’ll be playing with texture, colors, and shapes to create beautiful mandalas and clocks and everything in between. These make excellent gifts, and are really fun to make. So let your creativity run wild and make some art with me today.
The models were drawn in AutoCAD or similar tools and scaled appropriately so they can be stacked on top of each other to make images.
Here you can see a series of cuts made to create a storm trooper design.
The cuts are made using a laser cutter and thin wood. To do this project your laser needs to be capable of doing at least a 1 foot square piece of wood, and it needs to be able to cut it as close as 1/10 of an inch without failure of your laser. A lot of times if your laser isn’t well dialed in, if you cut a line that’s 1/10 inch away from another line you can start fires and burn the piece away.
Once you have all your slices finished you’re ready to start playing around with colors. Think about the project as a whole and which colors you think will be compliment each other and highlight the design. You can have some fun with this part as you can see with my cat design below.
Or you can stick with wood color for a more natural look overall. If you choose to paint your project, we’ve learned that you get the best results using spray paint. Make sure if you choose to spray paint you are outside or in a well ventilated space. Spray paint typically works best on a calm dry day, humidity can sometimes make the spray paint bead up making your end result look textured or uneven.
Once your happy with your results it’s time to start stacking and see your creation come to life.
Thank you for joining us for another Frank’s Garage Quick Bite. We hope this inspired you to create some beautiful pieces of your own. If you’re looking for more project ideas click the link below.
We would love to see your finished projects, send pictures or videos to the email below to be featured on Ultra Librarian.