Wanqiu and I started our assignment by coming up with ideas for creation and communicating them over text message and email. I first sent an email about figurines that I used to play with as a child. They came in packs as sheets of pop out cardboard or wood with slots to put the figure together. For our figures, we decided to . cut a cat, raccoon, seal, and a lion. We each made two of the Illustrator files on our own to then come together and cut them in the Thing Space. Below are the pictures of our process and final pieces!
This is the sketch I drew to then trace with the pen tool on Adobe Illustrator to then send to the laser cutter.
This is the sketch I drew for the lion.
Once I traced the drawings on Illustrator with the pen tool. I was able to send it to the laser cutter. Little did I know, that there would be a lot of issues when transferring files from a newer version of Illustrator to an older one. For some reason, there was a mystery clipping mask that showed up on the file once it was transferred. There were also some mystery invisible boxes that were around my images on the file. These issues were found and resolved once I tried sending the file to print on the laser and it wouldn't print. I would press the green button, but it wouldn't cut anything. This definitely meant that there was something wrong with my file that I was missing.
I also ran into issues concerning technical things about the laser. When working with the laser, it is important to consider the material that you are using and how the laser itself is set up. The materials that we were using was left over birch wood scraps from the Thing Space. This presented an issue because the older pieces would catch on fire easily or break when we were trying to put the pieces together. We also ran into issues with the bed of the laser, if it was too far away or up close since many people were using it and changing the height. I would also tell people that they need to consider the weight of their material/the design of their cut so that it is balanced, if they are trying to make it free standing. There were some issues when trying to put the pieces together, but one part of it was too heavy to withstand the weight of itself.
The number one piece of advice and learning lesson for me with this project: It is always important to double check every parameter that could be changed in a long making process like this one.
Overall, I think there are a lot of applications that the laser cutter could have in an art classroom. Throughout the making process, the student is working with design (digitally and physically), color, physics (accounting for how a 2D piece is going to work in 3D), and the laser cutter itself. The project also required a lot of supervision and trouble shooting with a professional, so I could see how in a classroom it could be difficult if there were a lot of students wanting to work with the laser cutter (especially if there are problems along the way).
