For the past couple of weeks we were tasked with using the Carvey to carve a noun out of wood. I decided to represent one of my favourite symbols of Singapore – the Merlion. He is essentially a mermaid-lion hybrid who is known to exhale water onto unsuspecting tourists who ever accidentally wander too close.

After downloading the file from thenounproject and load it into Easel, I was debating between using an 1/8th bit (which would take much less time but can not show as much details) or an 1/16th bit (which would make my teammate and I stay quite a bit longer). Decided to go with a more representative cut instead of a fine-detailed one, I used an 1/8th bit with an arbitrary depth of 0.35 inch. The result was satisfactory, but as expected some of the fine details got grouped together.

For some post-processing, I decided to try 2 different approaches. Firstly, I spraypainted one piece with a few layer of white paint and leave to dry overnight, which gave me a crisp look. For the second piece, I used a brushed to apply a few layers of grey wood stain, and used sandpaper to scratches out the surrounding for a more vintage look.

In total, this was a fun small exercise to get familiar with the Carvey!

Cost-

Machine Time on Carvey @$20/hr x 1 hours = $20

My labor time @$15/hr x 1 hours = $15

Materials (wood was salvaged scrap) Spray paint $5 + Grey wood stain $5 = $10

Total Cost= $45