Making our First Commemorative Wooden Plate
Jimmy’s Grotto, a beloved local restaurant since 1946, was interested in creating a unique piece that would incorporate their colorful logo.
To get started, we kicked around some ideas for a clock. The problem was how the clock hands always seemed to interfere with the chef’s face in hilarious ways. (Sorry, no blooper pictures.)
After a few design iterations, we agreed that a commemorative wooden plate is a GREAT fit for the restaurant!
Today, we share a little behind-the-scenes look at some of the steps to make the plate. Please understand, the goal is to give the flavor of the process rather than a detailed tutorial.
The CNC design software we used is Vectric Aspire. (No affiliation, just one of our favorite tools.)
The first step was to create a custom two-sided plate design to be carved by the CNC machine.
The second step was to convert the logo into a 3D object.
The "Create Component from ... bitmap" feature automatically makes a 3D model from a picture where the lighter colored areas become higher points in the model. The darker colors become proportionately lower points.
The slightly tricky part was to replace the logo colors to achieve a fun 3D result.
The third step was to add a bump to the "chef circle" so he would pop off the plate like a Ponza Rotta Pizza©. It was easy to outline the chef circle including his tie. The "create round shape component" feature added the bump to the 3d model.
The fourth step was to carve the project out of real wood on the CNC machine. The trickiest part was to align the material for two sided processing. Of course, everything went smoothly the very first time. (Ok, you deserve a blooper picture.)
The final step was to carefully hand-paint the dish using colored stain to celebrate the natural beauty of the wood.
One effective technique was to stain the lowest colors in the model first, such as the red at the bottom of the plate. The letters were stained red and allowed to dry before carefully sanding the top of each letter to make crisp edges before carefully applying the yellow.
Any yellow that dripped into the red was easy to wipe off because the red stain was dry.
If the yellow would have bled into the red, one solution would be to apply a clear coat after the red dried. Once the clear coat dried, the sanding-then-painting yellow process would be similar without any yellow over-paint mixing into the red at all because of the clear coat.
Similar techniques applied to every color.
For this project, the unique gradients in the original logo required us to play around with mixing colors to match the style The effect is most noticeable in the green area as it fades from dark to light.
After carefully applying a few clear coats with fine sandpapering between each coat, the commemorative wooden plate is ready to display!
Of course, it is a purely decorative wooden plate that is only meant to be viewed and never used. Although, putting it in the dishwasher could provide one last set of blooper pictures…
Thank you for reading!
Be Kind: We encourage everyone to find ways to confidently express themselves through art without concern for judgement by "more talented" people with "better" techniques and results. We love learning and improving what we do, and hope you love what you do too!