Pure Decadence - Laser Etched Chocolate Bar

after seeing the Laser Etched Powerbook project i got to thinking - i don't use a mac, and isn't there something a bit more temporal i could do? we were breaking out the saturday night munchies and i had an idea...

Step 1: Unwrap Chocolate Bar

buy a quality chocolate bar, and unwrap it. do not eat yet!

Step 2: Place Chocolate Bar in Laser Cutter

Align carefully and size your graphic to fit the bar.

Put a piece of clean paper under the bar, so that burned plastic from other projects doesn't get on the bottom of the bar. you're going to be eating this!

Step 3: Laser Etch the Chocolate!

I used these settings for the epilog 45 watt laser:
300dpi
30% power
100% speed / raster cut

Step 4: Done

after the etching success i tried to cut all the way through the chocolate with the laser. i was hoping to cut some Escher tilings with different color chocolates. unfortunately the chocolate is much too melty, trying to cut all the way through just made a big puddle of melted chocolate iwhich dribbled all over the laser cutter.

Step 5: Don't Have a Laser Cutter? No Problem!

if you're hoping to do this at home and don't have a laser cutter - don't worry! you can easily do this with a piece of cardboard, a sharp knife, and a lamp. just cut the cardboard into a stencil of the pattern you want, then hold the cardboard between the chocolate and the hot lamp. the chocolate will melt in the exposed areas, leaving a very visible pattern even after it cools.