My first real attempt at designing anything

Made on a Glowforge
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I received a text message this week from a gal I used to work with. Her niece is getting married next week, and she wanted to know if I could do a design for them, and sent me a picture. They had asked another person we both used to work with who has a laser (not GF) but hadn’t heard back from her, so they asked me. As my husband and I were in the process of cutting down two large dying trees in our yard, I told her I couldn’t start on it that day, but could definitely have it done by the following week. I finally finished it today! Cut time was pretty fast, but piecing it all together … I had to change the font for the heart names, as the first font I used fell to bits. It’s definitely not perfect.

So I am not the best at getting a tight, snug fit, as I didn’t take time to do all the kern stuff, especially since I was using three different PG woods and I was in a hurry, as I didn’t have much time. But it’s the first time I’ve ever tried to do any type of inlay. I did do engraving for the “shadow” on the last name, and the mountain scene. It would have gone a lot faster if everything was engraved, that’s for sure! I see the flaws, but she was happy with the picture I sent her.

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All in all, it was a great learning experience for me.

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looks nice. I am sure they loved it!

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Ellen, you did an excellent job! It looks just great. Does that make you want to do more designing, now?

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I think it looks great!!

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That’s beautiful! Especially at short notice, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled with in person too :smiley:

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Great job on the inlay, you know we all see flaws in our work that others do not. Now that you have done one piece, maybe designing will be something you try more. I think you should.

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What a wonderful job you did! They will treasure it for sure.

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Wonderful! That is a pretty piece! They will love it?

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Great job!

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I sure hope you charged a pretty penny—- it is gorgeous!

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Thanks everyone! I really appreciate your encouragement!

@Xabbess, @rappee25407, I didn’t draw it, as I can’t even draw a straight line, but I did find how to use free clipart and trace it, adjusted nodes (for which I learned a lot about moving/adding/removing them, giving me more confidence in designing my own stuff from scratch!), played with how the different woods would look (showed the customer a couple different options to choose from), used the new font formatting tool in GF, etc. So yes, it has made me more comfortable in trying to design stuff myself. I even used the little joined hearts that were cut out of the walnut to make her a little keychain with their names engraved in the middle of each heart.

Last week I actually did make a design for something I have been thinking about for some time and haven’t seen (although I honestly haven’t looked either), but I need to find a thinner material that will work for what I want it to do. I’ll be sure to post it as soon as I do. It’s something I might even attempt to submit to the catalog, which would definitely be a first for me!

@deirdrebeth, I dropped it off to her mom today at Lowe’s (I used to work with her when I worked there), and she said it looked really good, and another friend who works there saw it and absolutely loved it. I really can’t wait to see what her daughter thinks, or her sister, who is the one who asked me if I could do it.

@JimmyWayneWestie, no I didn’t. I only charged her $30 and $5 for a cake topper, because when I first saw what she wanted, I wasn’t thinking inlay, just engraving on different woods. It wasn’t until I actually started doing it that I realized how long it would take. Although it all cut out in about 1/2 hour, I hadn’t taken into account how long it would take to remove all the masking on both sides of the wood (PG woods), and had to redo the names because they broke the first time. There were just so many tiny pieces that had to be done, and many I had to use tweezers to hold them, even using a straight pin to help. If I ever do another, I’ll definitely charge at least $75! So I’ll chalk this one up to how much I learned in the process, which is a lot.

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Every single one of us has started a project and thought 1 hour — and 15 hours later…………………

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Turned out great! :slightly_smiling_face:

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Congratulations! I don’t see any flaws. Your friend got a bargain, hope she realizes that.

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You did such a wonderful job on this!! It is always amazing how much time it takes to work from scratch and create. Super thrilling when you have such a fabulous outcome.

Also, it’s cool that we learn something new with each project.

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Wonderful work! You designed, learned, and made all at the same time; very impressive.

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I think it is terrific.

I am just now firing up Beamer for some stuff to take home with me this Thanksgiving.

feels like it has been ages since I made anything.

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so True!!!

I mean sometimes you just HAVE to HIGH 5 YOURSELF and keep on going. :slight_smile:

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Thanks all! I have a couple ideas floating around in my head right now, but need to find the right material, as at least one of them I’d like to submit to the catalog.
But this week I am working on a custom order. Yay! Pays for materials I just ordered. :grin:

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I really do like this! To be quite honest, I haven’t done much in the way of inlay because I’ve always been a little bit hesitant about the fit. I cheated with the table inlay, because it was poured resin in the center. This looks flawless from the photo, and is inspiring me to design some inlay. Hmmm.

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