Wooden Butterfly Coaster- Design Tech Project

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Wooden Butterfly Coaster

What is your project? 

My project consists of 4 wooden coasters and a coaster holder. My project is made out of cherry wood and has an intricate design of butterflies in a field. 

How did you make it?

I started the process off with designing the butterfly design in Adobe Illustrator. I then transferred the design into the laser cutter. Once the design was cut onto all four of the coasters, I began to sand them down. This made the wood much smoother and made it easier to apply a finishing oil to the wood. The finishing oil, which consisted of linseed and beeswax. The finishing oil helps protect the wood from water damage and scratches. Once I was finished with the coasters I began the process of designing a coaster holder. I put my designs into Easel, a proprietary online software that transferred the designs into the CNC Router. This took a slab of wood and cut out a box-like shape. I then cut and sanded down all of the rough edges using a tool called a random orbital sander. This is like an electronic sander and helped get the edges really smooth. I then repeated the same process with the coaster holders as I did the coasters by applying a finishing oil to the wood. Once it was dry I took a piece of steel wool and burnished the wood so that the remaining oil off and to smooth the final wood. After this, I applied another coat of the finishing oil and I was left with the finished product!

What do you like most about your project?

I really enjoyed watching the laser cutter cut the design I created into the wood. I also really enjoyed putting the finishing oil onto the wood and seeing how smooth it turned out. 

What was challenging about this project?

Something that was really challenging for me was designing the illustration in Adobe Illustrator. The process was really confusing to me and it caused me longer than necessary to complete this aspect of the project. 

What would you change about the project if you did it again?

If I did this project over again I probably would have sanded a little lighter because in some places on my coaster I pushed down a little too hard and it created dents on both my coaster holder and the coasters themselves. 

What is your plan for it now that it's done?

 I plan on taking my coasters home and putting them to good use! I might use them as a gift to my grandparents because they really enjoy seeing things that I create in school. 

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