Summary

I've been experimenting with methods and materials to create engraved maps for friends and family. This project is specifically for a vacation rental property we own (hence the punny name).

I've gone through various iterations and materials to home in on this design approach: I'm sandwiching a map that I cut and engraved on Basswood plywood between a transparent front panel and a transparent blue sheet (acrylic or gel).

The first task is finding and manipulating the map. I downloaded an SVG map of the community from OpenStreeetMaps.org and imported it into Affinity Designer. There are many tutorials on the best ways to manipulate these sorts of maps, so I won't get into those details. I'll probably share some tips from my learnings later. I exported my final design, with separate layers for water, streets, beach, wetlands, lettering, and framing, as an SVG file.

Now for the physical stuff: I covered the Bassword board with 12" masking tape to protect the wood from staining while cutting and to make the color fill process easier. First I cut the board to size with the laser. Then I ran the cutouts representing water and the engraving for the lettering and location marker. Removing the board from the laser bay, I filled the masked, engraved lettering with black powder paint, employing a heat gun to cure the color. After carefully removing the masking [hint: use a Cricut weeding tool], I put the board back in the M1. I was very careful to place the board exactly where I ran the first processes so everything would like up. Then I ran the engraving and framing.

For the picture frame, I wanted to convert the Michael's floating frame to be free-standing. I purchased a similarly stained wood pallet plaque and pried to pieces apart. The bottom plank was stained on three sides, so I chose that one and glued the frame to it, aligning it so the weight of the materials in the frame would be centered front-to-back. I allowed the glue to dry overnight, drilled and sunk two screw holes in through the bottom to tightly secure the pieces with short screws. Finishing the frame off, I used the laser to cut a piece of black felt the exact dimensions of the plank and glued it to the bottom, covering the plank's imperfections and screw holes. I also removed the sawtooth hanger that came on the back of the frame since it wouldn't be necessary. 

Finally, I cleaned and inserted the glass, board, and gel layers for the final product.