Video: Sports Team Wall Hanging
In this video, David Picciuto celebrates the Cleveland Indians in this fun CNC project.
David Picciuto created this piece to root on the 2016 Cleveland Indians team. The team fell just short of a title, but the project was saved.
You can find more great projects and techniques from David Picciuto at his website.
Featured Tools:
David Picciuto: I started off in illustrator with a typeface and created outlines. I then imported that into Photoshop and used it as a guide for masking off the letters but first, I put all the photos into a folder group. Each photo has its own mask so it doesn't interfere with the neighboring photo. I then mask off the entire folder with the typeface to make sure everything is aligned. Then I turn off the mask and print it out.
I'm using special photo transfer paper I bought off of Etsy. It comes from France and I'll post a link down below. I've done photo transfers to wood before with regular printer paper but this transfer paper works much better and it reduces a step. It does require a laser printer and you cannot use an inkjet. I use matte gel for the transfer vehicle. You can also use Mod Podge. I let it completely dry for a few hours and then soak it in water. Once you can see the image, poke through the paper. You can then peel back the transfer paper. I'm using masking tape here to prevent the laser from burning the surface. It's barely pressed down.
In any case, after I'd broken my sheet down into more manageable size chunks, I started working on it on my table saw. The top's going to be made out of three pieces. Well, technically six pieces as you'll see in a minute, but anyway, it's going to be made out of three layers that stack like this, with the top and bottom, or bread pieces, following the same diagonal plane. Then the pastrami layer will be inset a bit.
Then it was time to cut it out. You can see my registration marks up in the corner. I checked and double-checked that everything was aligned before cutting. Cutting took about 10 minutes and then it was time to remove all the tape. Then I used that negative waste part of the cut to align everything when gluing all the pieces down. I had that waste part clamped to the board and I glued the pieces down with CA glue. For the CNC part of the sign, I use VCarve Pro for the very first time. Then exported that G-code into Easel and then used Easel to send that to the X-Carve. In my opinion, VCarve is insanely overpriced at $700. I don't think there's a lot of options out there and I don't think Easel does V carving just yet. When I'm using VCarve Pro it feels like I'm stepping back into 1995 so I'm really looking forward to the future of Easel. Hopefully, VCarve capabilities come to Easel because Easel's just so much friendlier. It's so much easier to use.
This says 2016 American League Champions. It was supposed to say 2016 World Series Champions but not everything goes as planned. It was a crazy awesome series. Amazing. Cubs deserved it. The Cubs, they won over 100 games this year. They played their hearts out throughout the entire playoffs. Cubs deserved it. They haven't won anything since 1908 so I'm glad their curse is over and now Cleveland has the longest streak in baseball without winning a World Series which is crazy. We're Cleveland fans we're used to it. We're used to it. I grew up a Cleveland Indians fan, Cleveland Browns fan, Cavaliers fan, and Ohio State fan. My dad's the same way and then my grandpa's the same way. Baseball is by far my favorite sport. I watch it every single night. I love baseball so I just really-- Unexpected outcome. It was really unexpected for the Indians to do so well in the playoffs with so many injuries. Nobody at the beginning of the season thought the Indians were going to get to a Game 7 of the World Series. Nobody thought that. Looking forward to next year. I'm kind of sports out. I need a break from sports for a little bit.
It was a fun project and it was just really cool trying to get all the photos and the laser to line up. I could have done each letter individually and that maybe would take out some of the issues when dealing with the alignment within the software but this was more fun. Plus, I had the negative waste piece to do all the alignments that I needed. Those of you who love woodworking and hate CNC and laser projects, don't worry, we're coming back next week. I got this awesome piece of live-edge walnut here. We're going to make something fun out of that. I got these really ugly feet that we're going to use and I turned some legs and I'm not going to tell you exactly what it is unless you listen to making a podcast then you already know. I do have more laser video projects coming. Possibly one next Tuesday. If you don't like laser projects, just hang tight. I'm always going to be doing woodworking. I love doing the laser projects because I like challenging myself to do things outside the norm sort of like this. I actually have another laser coming next month. The Glowforge is finally shipping next month. I'm looking forward to that.
I'm hoping to get my hands on the new X-Carve by Inventables to do that CNC work. I really enjoy the laser and CNC stuff. I like integrating it into my woodworking projects. That's not for everybody. That's totally cool. We're going to do traditional woodworking projects in this channel as well so just hang out. If the video comes up that I make that you don't like, just hang out. You don't have to click that. You don't have to thumbs down me. You don't have to unsubscribe, just wait. I'll make something you like ,just hang on. [coughs] When I talk in that voice [coughs] it makes me cough. A little under the weather this week. I'm recovering. If you are a Cubs fan, please take it easy on me in the comments. I'm still recovering. Congratulations to everybody. I'll see you guys next week. As always, be safe, have fun, stay passionate and make something. Man, that was a lot of talking. That was a lot of talking. Too much talking. Less talking, more cutting.
Keep the inspiration coming!
Subscribe to our newsletter for more woodworking tips and tricks