Keychains for a client plus a bonus

Made on a Glowforge
1

I imagine most folks have friends and family as their first clients and I don’t think they should think less of it. To me it’s more rewarding. My toughest client is myself when I’m making something for a loved one and the work shows! I bet you all are like that too…plus you guys have crazy talent!

So my first customer is my wife. She teaches piano and their recital is coming up soon. She always gives the participants a gift and this year we can laser it! It was a fun process to work with her as two business entities. I thought it would be weird and suggested that I just do it for free. She insisted that my work was good, and ought to be paid for. See? Those family projects are really great confidence boosters.

She found some design on Pinterest and we made it work. I had to switch to draft scoring halfway in. The SD scoring is a bit deep and caused some of the edges to chip off.

image
image816×612 162 KB
image
image1154×866 246 KB

Here it is! Piano Key-Chains! Because…you know…piano keys? It’s a really horrible piano pun but she loves it. Wives are the best. I highly recommend you pick one up. Errrm…you know what I mean.

[EDIT]
Ermahgerd!!! I for got the bonus! I have like 90 keychain rings left over from this project so I made a rapture key for fun. I think it would look more authentic with more depth but it would need like 4 layers for that. Pretty thick for a keychain. I suppose I could do veneer layers though.

image
image1154×866 197 KB

45 Likes
2

Perfect design for a piano instructor and students! Gonna make for a fun recital for everyone! :grinning:

1 Like
3

My 5yo is getting to participate this year. I believe she’s doing a duet with the instructor/mommy.

3 Likes
4

And I assume daddy is in charge of the filming? (That’s the way it worked with our family anyway.) :wink:

1 Like
5

Yep! Usually I’m just in charge of making the kool-aid. Moving up in the world!

2 Likes
6

You’re getting lots of additional responsibilities…you’re also in charge of gift creation now! :smile:

1 Like
7

Actually that’s great for this forum ! I believe last year we were all called “kool-aid drinkers…” :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

PS - Nice job on the keychains !!!

2 Likes
8

I’ve gone a bit nutz with key tags. How did you get the rings on without damaging the stock? I finally gave up and add a small leather strap. (Upscales them a bit too.)

Nice work!

9

Very cool. What was the material for the piano key chains?

10

I’m not sure. I basically copied the dimensions of the gift of good measure for the hole design. May be the scoring gives it some flex? Thinner gague wire on the rings might help you out too. These were really cheap and pretty easy to keep open while I attached them. I also liked that they give you the dimensions in the thumbnails so you can get your design :ok_hand: while waiting for them to come in the mail. When I was younger, I used to wedge key rings open with a quarter or the pointy back end of a clothespin to keep em open while I got it on. You might try that.

:proofgrade: Medium Maple Ply. I used my hardwood maple for the Rapture key by mistake. Gotta learn to read labels.

2 Likes
11

What a cool design—I love it! I really like the visual pun.

1 Like
12

Very cool key chains! Love the piano ones!