Glowforge Cut of My Hand

Very few people know this story, but back in July 2021, I was a wreck. Independence Day weekend I received a call from police notifying me that my mother had been found deceased in her home. I drove out to identify her body and start the preparation of planning her funeral. I was also still grieving the loss of my younger sister who died four years earlier to the day. I was very distraught at the time and completely forgot that I had just dropped almost $5,000 on a laser cutter and engrave called a Glowforge, but it seemingly arrived the day after her passing and I took it as a wonderful omen as my mother was the most talented artist I knew and in a way, receiving the Glowforge was like her passing the torch on to me.

Immediately, I unpacked the beast and set it up in the middle of my living room and kitchen. First I printed out a few basic things and then I moved on almost immediately to expert as I had big plans for this machine. I hatched out an idea in my mind that I would create memorial engravings in all shapes and sizes from a photo I had taken of my mother on our last cruise when I worked for Princess Cruises. I stylized it and then eventually perfected it to the point that I turned it into line art, the perfect design for engraving on wood. I would go on to make several dozen pieces for her funeral.

About a month later and still pushing the envelope on what I could design and make, I decided I wanted to try scanning my hand to create a 3-D representation of it. Eventually I had something I could work with and then I found a really cool Slicer program to break it up in layers. My first attempt to print it out on proofgrade wood would turn out to be a disaster. The proportions of the hand by layering it at a vertical angle made the fingers appear short and stubby. I would have to re-work my slider and attempt to slice from a different angle. I didn't want to use more proofgrade wood if it didn't workout, so I mixed and matched various acrylic colors and started cutting. When all the components were finally cut, I glued them together to reveal the most amazingly bright and colorful sculpture. In the end I produced a piece that exceeded my wildest expectations because I had nearly set it up for failure choosing colors I didn't find all that attractive.