Inkscape Question- Layering

I have an issue with an Inkscape software. Should be simple, but the answer alludes me!
I am creating a simple design utilizing two stars. One on top of the other. I want the first star to be larger than the second one placed exactly on top of the first. I want the larger star to have thick line around it, with the inner star to be either clear or absent. So, basically, maybe even a star hole in the center of the larger star.
I’ve been working with Inkscape and have owned my Glowforge Pro for about 3 months successfully creating designs and seeing them reproduced exactly by the GF Pro. This one item just has me stumped.
HELP PLEASE! And, thanks!

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Have you tried creating both stars. Placing one on top of the other. Selecting both and selecting path exclusion?

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OK so…
You’re a little underdefined here, it’s hard to convey some things but others are just left out. I’m going to make a few assumptions and just go for it.

Assumption #1, you want a 5-point star. OK cool.

Assumption #2, you want the larger star to have an engraved border on the outside then some clear space, and then finally an inner star-shaped cut line.

Good news, you’re right, this is pretty easy.

Start with the star tool, and make one star.

Now copy and paste in place to make another, then scale it to whatever size you want, with the control and shift keys held down. control keeps the aspect ratio locked, shift has it scale in and out from the center.

Do the process again to set your outer cutline. You’ll end up with 3 stars nested sort of like this:

The second star… we’re going to turn that into an engravable shape. There are lots of ways to do it, but I find that changing the stroke width until it looks right is the way to go. Here it is, changed to red (for visibility’s sake) and the width of the stroke set to something that seems about right.

Now to make that red area engraved, you need to convert it to a shape. for that, you use stroke to path. Here it is after stroke to path, and in node editing mode so you can see it’s a shape with nodes around the outer edge.

You’re almost done. You want (generally) to cut from the inside out, so you should set the inner star to be a different color from the outer:

Group it up so you don’t accidentally misalign it by moving it around, and you’re good to go!

Of course, this may not be exactly what you were asking, but these steps in various combinations are pretty much the bones of anything like this.

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Thanks this is helpful to all! I need to do some additional studying on Inkscape!

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I learned most of what I know by doing, but in the early stages reading some key stuff is a huge head start.

I like Tavmjong Bah’s tutorials… they’re a little out of date, new versions of inkscape have come along with slightly different menu layouts… but overall I think they’re 99% still accurate clear and useful:

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/

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THANKYOU SO MUCH! Worked perfectly!
I am sorry for such a delayed reply. My Merry had an emergency surgery and long recovery, so just now back at it. She’s doing well now.
I do much appreciate your help. Thanks again!!!

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