Laser Smashball Experiment- 07.29.14
It feels like it’s been summer here since february or so… and when we were checking out at the supermarket, had a nostalgic moment when i spotted Smashball - that beachy wooden paddle ball game thats been around since the 70s with such an adorably iconic logo. It also seemed like a fun one to experiment with in the Laser Cutter! Remember the hexagon experiment from the laser challenge? Well we threw some of those patterns together and played with painting and etching it into the paddles and toying with some custom colored plastidip. Take a peek at more details of the experiment on the next page!
Impulse supermarket buy…
Drying the paint… and popping it into the laser cutter!
Lasers in action!
Clear coating…
My favorite part of this is definitely the way it looks in REAL LIFE (photos don’t quite do it justice) - at different angles, it goes from looking black with slight cuts in it, then tilt it and it looks like golden wooden colors are popping out of the cracks…
First comparison to where it started…
Decided to to with some Plasti Dip Create Your Color…
… trying out a darker green for the plasti dip… i hadn’t realized quite how much it tightens up to a perfect coating! (And worst case scenario, you can always peel it off!)
So here’s the current state of the experiment - two paddles - one plasti dipped handle and one as is…
What next? Not sure yet… but they do look pretty floating around the lab, and are still super fun to play with!
