November: B-17 Necklace

Happy to finally be posting November’s finished project! In the last post you saw the raw laser cut airplanes, and tonight I covered them with pieces of sectional charts. These convoluted looking maps are actually quite well-organized with a TON of essential information for the pilot’s flight planning. They include special symbols and information that enable them to safely navigate from one location to another while keeping on-time. This one below shows just a small area east of Dallas – look at all that stuff!

With a trip to Hobby Lobby after work to pick up some hardware for the necklace and some Mod Podge, I was ready to get this thing done! The craftsmanship I will admit is leaving something to be desired right now. You can see the paper looks a bit rough around the edges.. and the Mod Podge did not stick to the metal as well as I’d hoped. I’ll have to experiment some more to find a method that will make these more wearable. But for now, We’ve at least got SOMETHING done!

(Finished Piece, still needs some refinining it seems – but not bad!)

The Tiny Bomber Fleet Arrives!

Better late than never! My tiny fleet of laser cut steel B-17 bomber planes arrived in the mail finally! I’m so happy with them – and might I add, there is just something so marvelous about spreading out twenty tiny planes on your coffee table! The folks at Laser Cutting Company Inc did a great job and were very helpful. I didn’t really have a clue about how to order anything for laser cutting, so I described my project and needs and trusted them on the material and thickness.

The whole process on my end was actually pretty painless – always love that! Andrew suggested I look at old spotter cards on google to find good silhouettes to work from. Back in the day, spotter cards were used in the military as decks of playing cards – so that while the soldiers played in their downtime they could study up on the various angles and profiles of aircraft. This helped them to identify friend or foe. Pretty interesting!

Brought one of the card images into Adobe Illustrator and traced it, (I chose the B-17 because it is a well-known and easily recognized silhouette) then exported the file as a CAD file (something I never knew you could do in illustrator) and it was all ready to go. A week or so later, this adorable fleet of war birds arrived on my porch! Why so many? Well, no special reason honestly… the price for twenty was only $20 more than the price to have one made ($120 for inquiring, curious folks), so I figured I might as well! I’ve still got to put the finishing touches on – adding the map over the front and attaching a chain. I hope to have at least a few of these done to post up tomorrow night. Cannot wait to share! =D

Photo Credit for image of spotter cards RocDornbrook

Finally Inspiration Strikes! Let’s Laser Cut!

Eureka I’ve got it! It has taken crap tons of endless researching and thinking and thinking and researching… jumping back and forth from one idea to another… knowing I will be gone over Thanksgiving and feeling the pressure to make sure I get this damn thing done on time. I have FINALLY found an idea that I am excited about! On my daily Pinterest binge, I stumbled upon the idea of laser cut jewelry. It was all thanks to Molly M Designs and her inspiring laser cut jewelry, coasters, and more! Check out her website here! Gracias!

And now for the idea… ******druuuuuumrooooooooooll!!*******

Here’s a rough mock-up of the plan! I’m going to make a laser cut pendant (airplane, bird, wings, something similar) and attach an old sectional chart to the front. I even happen to have one of Andrew’s old charts lying around the house – when he bought a new one and was going to toss it I thought, noway! It just looked too cool and I knew eventually I could make something out of it! Now I’m off to get quotes on laser cutting and PRAY that the turn-around time for that is not super slow! Will keep you all updated on the progress.. Wish me luck!