Whimsical Coasters and Coaster Holder - Design Tech

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    The "Whimsical Coasters and Coaster Holder" is a set of four floral coasters and a modern wooden-dowel style coaster holder. The first step in completing this project was to design both the coasters and the coaster holder in Adobe Illustrator. 

    Before I could begin designing them, I had to learn to use the software. Because Adobe Illustrator is the software that connects to the laser cutter (the machine that engraves and cuts out the coasters), I needed to learn the ins and outs of the software before designing and printing my project. 

The second step was sketching out the project and making a materials list, so I had a finalized plan as to what I was going to make. 

After that, I designed the coasters on Illustrator, using specific stroke weights for different purposes. For example, black on Illustrator correlates to "engrave" on the laser cutter, and red correlates to "cut".

Once I got a lesson on how to send files to the laser cutter, I cut out my coasters on the laser cutter. Then, to cut out/print my coaster holder, I had to use the CNC Router. First, I had to learn how to use the machine and send files to it, just like how I did with the laser cutter. Once my design was cut out on the CNC Router, I cut all of my wooden dowels to size for the coaster holder. Then, I used wood glue to secure the dowels in place. 

In the next class, once the wood glue had dried, I was ready to begin varnishing my project. I used two small squares of cloth and some wood varnish oil to massage the oil into all surfaces of the wood. This process was repeated one more time, alternating with burnishing the project with steel wool. 

    After my last burnishing, I was ready to take my coasters home! I knew when I was designing this project that I wanted it to be for my mom. When mothers day started to come up, I knew that would be the perfect time to give them to her. My favorite part about this project was learning countless new skills. I had never worked with wood, the laser cutter, or the CNC Router before, so this was an exciting opportunity for me to learn new skills. However, the most challenging part about the coasters and coaster holder was for sure designing them on Adobe Illustrator. I had never used this software before, and it was a lot more challenging than I was expecting due to all the different buttons and complex actions available on the software. If I were to ever do a project like this again, I would probably like to do a more detailed design if I had the time. I enjoy the design that I ended up doing for my coasters, but I feel like I could have done a more creative design for my coaster holder.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed creating my project and how it came out in the end.



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