Metal Design

I am trying a new feature with this piece. 

I been working with the wonderful crew over at Visual FX in Tulsa 

 for my exhibit labels, signs, banners and other crazy ideas I have. 

I decided to bring them on board and help me with a new texture - cut metal.

The gray areas in the above pic shows where I want to add the metal to accent the side features and the entire horse will be made out of metal. 

The first thing I need to do is design what I want cut out. I use Adobe Illustrator to design the outside shape and the pieces that will be routed out by machine.

Luckily, with VFX's help I fix the design to work best with their machine. The great thing about have great partners is having many pieces being worked on at once.

After sending the file to Tulsa, I need to get down and get my hands dirty. I need to route the 2 boards that will hold the glass in place. 

I use simple technology for this step. I lay the glass on the boards and measure a hundred times, then mark it with a pencil.

I use a hand trim router so I have more control getting right on my lines without it jumping and tearing up the wood. 

Woohoo. It worked the first time.

 

I will next mock everything together to make sure the pieces work and see where I need to sand. 

Thanks for following. More this week.