I used the CNC machine to create a card from the Japanese Card game hanafuda (花札, or “flower cards”), the rising sun card. I was also inspired by the main character from an anime I watch called Demon slayer, who wears the rising sun cards as earrings in the series.

I first designed my file so that the line were thin and true to the desgin of the card, and that the parts of the card with blocks of color that weren’t white would stand out while the white parts of the design would be filled with resin. It was challenging to add to the depth of the piece while maintaining the fine line work without the wood splitting and breaking in areas.

I used the Shapeoko Pro and a 1/8″ end mill flute bit to get this result:

Once my pieces were cut, I used acrylic paint to color the CNCd card.

I initially planned to fill my piece with resin, and decided to fill the unpainted parts with white resin, and the gaps in the painted parts with clear resin to aadd depth and contrast to the different elements of the design. Though very simple, I wanted it to be interesting to look at but easy to visually process. Before starting with resign, however, I needed to create a border around my pieces that would keep the resin from flowing out of the sides of the piece and stay in place long enough to dry. I used scrap wood from laser cut projects to create a “fence” to keep the resin in place. I taped it together tightly and positioned my pieces inside of each so that the fence was flush with the borders of my piece so that (ideally) no resin would leak when it was time to pour it into my piece.

Once everything was in place, I measured a small amount of clear resin (1:1 Part A and B) and used a popsicle stick to stir and precisely pour the resin into the small gaps in my piece. Once I’d filled all the areas I wanted to with clear resin, I mixed some white acrylic paint into the remaining clear resin and used a popsicle stick to precisely pour the resin into the triangular pockets in my piece to get this result.

I am still waiting for the resin to cure but I believe it should look very similar once it has set.

This was my workspace after I finished.

Cost Estimate:

Soft Pine Wood: (1) 3.5″ x 5″ x 0.8″ piece, ~4¢/sq in (Lowe’s) | 56¢

Clear Resin: ~1.5oz used, ~$1.16/oz (Michael’s) | $1.73

Acrylic Paint: ~0.5oz total used, ~$2.25/oz (Lowe’s) | $1.13

Simple Plastic Measuring Cups: (2) used, 24¢/cup Amazon | 48¢

1/8″ End Mill Flute Bit: (1) used, $3.40/bit Walmart | $3.40

Laser cut wood scraps: Free (from the scrap bin) | $0

Labor: (5) $10/hr = $50

Total = $57.30