Introduction: Toothpick Card

About: I've worked for Instructables off and on since 2006 building and documenting just about everything I enjoy doing. I am now the Creative Programs founder and manager for Autodesk and just finished building out…

Have an old credit card or savings club card lying around?  Follow this simple pattern and turn it into a set of pocket toothpicks in just a few minutes!

This design will work with any plastic wallet sized card.

Step 1: Design

The Corel Draw file below contains a simple yet effective toothpick design.  The sides are perforated so that the toothpicks stay in place until you need them, then all you simply have to do is pop them out.

I laser cut the design into the plastic card, but that's obviously not always an option.  If you're feeling inspired, you can simply print and copy the pattern onto the card and cut on the lines using an exacto knife to create the card yourself by hand.

Step 2: Test

I did a test of the design first on some paper to make sure that it will work.

The test looks good - keep on going!

Step 3: Cut

I then used a laser cutter to cut out the design.  The laser cutter is a 75 Watt Epilog set to cut at 50% speed and 100% power.

Step 4: Pop and Pick

Once the card is cut it's ready to be stored away until that really pesky piece of food gets caught in your teeth, upon which time, pop out one of the toothpicks and pick away!