It's Dangerous to Christmas Alone
Intro: It's Dangerous to Christmas Alone
*quick note - I realize it's not Christmas anymore, but I neglected to finish the '12 days of Geekmas' series until now. So... sorry for the delay'
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me - a Legend of Zelda Christmas frame... because it's dangerous to Christmas alone!
Wanting to finish off the 12 Days of Geekmas with one of my favorite IP's, I made a Legend of Zelda frame, with a Christmas-y twist!
Here's how I put it together
STEP 1: Design in Inkscape
I found some reference pictures to the classic "it's dangerous to go alone, take this!", as well as a pixelated Santa and Christmas present, and brought them into Inkscape.
For the background I used the 'trace bitmap' function to get the rocks that serve as the boarder. Using the pen tool I started tracing the trees, Santa, Link, and the present from the reference pictures I gathered, then started overlaying them on the reference picture as I completed them.
Using the text tool, I experimented with different 8bit fonts till I found one that closely matched the original font, and spelled out the holiday message.
STEP 2: Pew Pew Pew
I took my 3/4" plywood board and painted it black, then covered it with some painters tape before putting it in the laser cutter (this will minimize burned edges and give a cleaner line - also helps when painting later)
I imported the design I made in Inkscape into my laser cutting program (I use K40 whisper) and set the laser to work.
STEP 3: Paint
Breaking out the paint pens, I started to paint the engraved areas. I first painted the rock border, then the lettering.
Using the hook, I removed bits of the painters tape and painted as I went. Removing a portion at a time from each of the different elements helped any type of bleeding and kept the paint lines straight.
STEP 4: Cut to Size
I measured a uniform area around the rock border, then cut the board to size.
Taking the 1/4" trim pieces, I measured them against the board, and then used the miter saw to cut the edges to 45 degrees.
STEP 5: Glue and Stain
I took the edge pieces I cut and glued them together with the board, clamping it all together while the glue dried.
Once dry, I cleaned up the edges of the frame, and then used the stain to add color to the frame.
STEP 6: Removing the Tape
To finish it off, it was just a matter of removing all the tape. The weeding hook came in handy when removing the tape from the smaller areas and around the lettering.
STEP 7: Hang With Geeky Holiday Pride
With it all done, I could hang this project with geeky holiday pride, bringing joy to both Legend of Zelda fans and Christmas fans alike.
Comments
jessyratfink 4 years ago