We are never too old...

 We are never too old to learn new skills. I have recently been 'give' a laser cutter on long-term loan. The owner, Steve Kirk, gave me several tutorials on his larger, more pwerful machine, at his home, along with several tips on using this one. He was also very patient with all my questions and mistakes.

So it was time for me to try a project of my own and I knew just what I wanted to do. My youngest son, Ben, has just set himself up as a self-employed performer, plus music technician, with a company called "Totally Sound". So I have made this wall plate for his studio.

The base is 3mm birch plywood, cut out and painted black. 

The treble clef, notes and script are cut from 1.5mm bass plywood. The clef has a light spray of varnish, and the rest are spray-painted in white. The script is a font called Zapfino which he  has used on his business cards.

For the picture I started with  a coloured photo he has sent me. I used Gimp to turn it into a black and white sketch, and then I engraved it onto the base plate with the laser. I cut a mask from eclipse paper and held the 'window' part over the engraving and sprayed it lightly with varnish, and then covered the image with the mask while I painted the black background.

I then mounted the pieces with acrylic glue, and black sticky foam tabs behind the script.

As I live in Spain, I  wrapped this in several layers of bubble wrap to post it to UK last Friday, and I was amazed to hear today that it has arrived already. And most importantly, Ben loves it.

It is fun to have a new 'toy' to play with.