Final Reflection: Aiden C

    My experience with making my shadow box and diorama was a good one, in my opinion. One of the main parts of the learning experience was me learning how to use the jointer and planer, both tools that are commonly used in woodworking, but ones that I haven't used before. The second main thing that I learned how to use is the laser printer/cutter, a tool that I was impressed with because of its ability to cut and print onto many materials at a fast rate while having razor-sharp precision. For all of these tools, Mr. Grisbee was a great teacher, and I was able to learn and use these tools all by myself in no time. 

The laser cutter hard at work:

Mr. Grisbee and Tyler Block using the jointer:

    Along with the use of the tools, I had a great time just in the overall process, and I really enjoyed working alongside my classmates to make my box for my artwork out of what started out as a single piece of long wood, and working to turn it into the perfectly cut, sanded, polished, and overall amazing frame for my artwork it is today. One of my favorite parts of the work was using the table saw to diagonally cut the wood (miters), which involved turning the table saw blade diagonally and rapidly cutting the wood into slanted parts. I would say one of the main reasons I remember this part the most is because of the fact that I almost measured wrong 5 times, but in the end, it worked out.

    After using adobe illustrator to design our boxes, which is another thing Mr. Grisbee taught us to use,  we separated them into layers that would be glued together later on, then printed each layer on the laser printer, printing them out of white cardstock for the shadowboxes project, and colored cardstock for the diorama project. We then went through the process of making each box, which started with cutting the wood so it was perfect and flat, trimming it to the right size, cutting the diagonal miters so it fits with the box, cutting the notches in the wood (dados) so the chipboard and acrylic fits, intensely sanding the wood, curving its edges with the router, staining it, then finally putting the whole thing together.

    In the end, I think that my shadowbox and diorama turned out great for me! They both looked surprisingly more like the professionally done one by Mr. Grisbee than I had thought, and the lights in the shadowbox looked great too. I had a few problems with the chipboard and acrylic not fitting and getting things on them, but in the end it worked out great! Here are some pictures of my final peices:

Shadowbox:

Diorama:

Both:

Thanks for reading!

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P.S, I wanted to just feature ariana's project: 

(It just looks so cool)