So far I have created the images from my concept that I want to cut into my wood. I have chosen an 8x8x8 in box to work with, which has a top an no bottom. I have placed my designs on the box pieces. I will be working on adjusting the curf for the fingers on Thursday 2/8 when I have time on the laser.
As far as design goes I still think that having a light like a candle would be a nice addition to this lamp. I’m considering using an electric candle inside the lantern. I would like to know if my images will be structurally sound and if they will show up looking similar to what I have draw considering the size of the lantern. I have not though about finishing materials yet either so I am open to suggestions on that too. I am planning on using the Baltic birch plywood for the main material. I would also like some input on diffusing materials for places like the eyes, holes in the tree, the skull, and the bird with a stone in its mouth as I feel that having such large and bright open spaces may be a lot.
I find the different bird designs really striking! It all fits together thematically even though each design maintains a lot of its own character. I believe the baltic birch plywood will come out really nicely.
Thank you. I’m happy to hear that the designs all fit well together but can stand on their own too.
Your images are very dynamic.
What kind of bird did you use?
In my opinion, staining the wood usually gives it a nice, finished look. Something darker might give it a woodsier look.
As for the diffusing material, I have not got a chance to experiment with that yet. However, paper seems to be a popular choice.
I used crows as my reference for these images. Crows are part of the corvid family and look similar to ravens but have a few main differences one of which is the smoothness of the feathers around the neck area and the overall size of the bird. I like the idea of a darker stain as well. I was also thinking of using some black acrylic to pain the birds. I’ll probably also use some tissue paper for the diffusing too and see if that works as I know I have some white paper at home.
Will these bird designs be fully cut to let light come though the cracks or rastored so that it glows like a backlight where the thinner wood lets a bit of light though and thicker areas of wood act as shading?
I’m planning on doing cutting all the way through and playing with how much material is removed from each portion of the lines. I like the idea of rastering this but I feel it might be too much with the complexity of the designs. I do not want too many moving parts as time is limited and I am still trying to fix issues in Inkscape to make the lantern more structurally sound.
I am struck by the bird skull. Do you plan on staining the wood? I think that the crows are super cool and some of the images have an almost eerie effect to them. I am excited to see how ti turns out!
Thank you! I plan on using some tissue paper as a diffusing material for the skull and other large open areas. I’m planning on using some stain on the lantern and I’m considering using a few different stain or acrylic colors as well to highlight some parts of the birds to make the lantern really pop even when the lights are not on.
I think as long as none of the lines have a complete cut it should be structural sound. I find the piece very soothing as if it’s telling the story of the birds life. If you had more time what would you consider adding to this piece?
Are you referring to rastering the lines? I do plan to vector cut the lines all the way through in this case and I’m trying to adjust the space between each line to give it more structural integrity. I’m not entirely sure what I would add to this piece but I would likely try to incorporate a crow adding to a treasure hoard, maybe a crow hunting, and potential a crow interacting with a person.
Your design is very impressive! The main location I would be worried about the structure is the skull. It has so many locations that would be thin and if the wrong one or two were to break by accident it my destroy the piece. I am excited to see the eyes glowing, I think it will look very cool
Thank you for your input on the skull. I’m trying to adjust the distance between the lines to provide more stability and I hope this helps otherwise I may have to remove the texturing lines I added to keep the structure in one piece.