Combination Puzzle/Play-Doh Cutter Sets
These creations were inspired by a request from an Etsy customer for cookie cutters of all 50 states to use while homeschooling her children, so they could make Play-Doh states to arrange into the US. I dreamed bigger and turned the cutters "inside out" so that they could fit together like puzzle pieces and serve dual purposes. I also labeled the back of each state with it's abbreviation to help with identification of states. These are a great way to teach states to anyone who doesn't know them (I learned a lot in the process of making them)! From the US states, I was inspired to do other custom designs
I was incredibly surprised to put Texas and Rhode Island side-by-side and see how different the sizes are!!
A Labor of Love
Many steps go into making these final products!
It all starts with a vision...even if it is just a scribble!!
Then I model the design on my computer
The pieces are printed on the 3D printer, a few at a time.
The United States came together slowly - there are lots of pieces of many different sizes that have to be printed!!
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Mario and Peach went together great!
The next step is to cut out the metal outline. Jesse does this on the CNC plasma cutter! He also had to grind all of the edges smooth after the pieces were cut.
The next step is to get wood and cut it to the right size.
I engraved the wood at this point using a Dremel, to give each piece a personalized touch. This is how the engraving looks after staining (the next step).
The wood needs stain to give it a beautiful look and to accent those grain patterns.
Varnish is next. I applied two coats of varnish (polyurethane) to all sides of the wood. There is a 4 hour waiting period between each coat, and only 5 of the 6 sides can be done at a time. It took many iterations to get all of the varnish done. I also used steel wool to smooth the surfaces after each coat.
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Now it is time to start assembling all the pieces in their metal outlines to make sure all of the pieces are right and that everything fits well.
Jesse and I traced the pieces on the back of the base, so that the "answer" to the puzzle is not too far away!
The metal outlines are mounted to the wood bases next.
Finally, the pieces are assembled into the frame.
