Week 3 Laser Cut Mold

The Instructions

Use Inkscape to convert a simple rastor image into a vector

Import an image of your choice

Select Path > Trace Bitmap

Right click image > Fill & Stroke > Stroke Paint > select fill & make sure color is set (in this case I set the stroke color to black

Select Stroke Style and set width to 1 px

Save svg file

Prepare vector image for cutting

Import SVG into your cutting program (Lightburn in this case)

Select the appropriate speed and strength (100% and 5 mm/s for this machine)

Load material & perform cut

Load the material into laser cutter

Select the appropriate settings for your laser cutting device

Select cut

Remove finished product

Note: I experimented with cutting an outline as an alternative mold, but that is not a requirement.

Following the recipe, create a (hopefully) jiggly biomaterial

Agar Agar Recipe:

150 ml of water / 16 g of agar agar / 8 ml of glycerin / dash of tumeric for color.

We were aiming for a springy mixture. Adding less agar agar will be fine and will result in a more stiff final product.

Instructions: Add the water and agar agar in cold to the pot. Heat the mix to a medium temperature while stiring slowly.

Add the glycerin and tumeric. Allow the mix to simmer and pour into the mould once it has begun to harden.