Moms Garden and Mothers Day Flower Box

Just after the lockdown for Covid started and I was in quarantine for exposure a fine company MakeCNC offered free downloads to some of their CNC cut puzzles for some flower designs. It was still a ways off from Mother's Day but I had a thought to cut them out on my CNC and make some kind of a bouquet. So I took advantage of the free offers and downloaded the files. The files are designed for some different thickness of material 1/8" and 1/16" and have designs for both CNC and Laser cutters. 

The files are really vectors that can be loaded into Vectric Aspire to create the CNC toolpaths. After my 10 days of quarantine and before everything got locked down I was able to get to Hobby Lobby and pick up a few sheets of Basswood to cut out the flowers. 

I am no artist but I really figured the flowers needed painting. I thought all I really needed to do is paint some solid colors somewhat close the the real thing. Buy now most everything was locked down but I was able to order a simple basic acrylic paint set from Michel's, I still didn't know what type of arrangement I was going to do but I created the toolpaths and cut out the flowers. I was able to cut 2 or three at a time on my small CNC and I had enough of an assortment to make up a pretty good bouquet. The flowers need a fair bit of sanding before I could start painting. I didn't rush but over a week or so I managed to paint up all the flowers.

I was thinking I would make a small planter box to make a display. I have a gadget to create box joints but it was a challenge to figure out how to size the design to fit on my small CNC. I was able to cut out the box on three different sheets. While I had my new paint set I came with the idea of engraving "Happy Mother's Day" on the sides of the box. And filling in the carvings. I did one side then I had the idea of adding some humor. Louise like flowers but really doesn't like when I buy plants because she has a black thumb and they always die and early death. So I figured I would carve in some garden symbols and call it "Mom's Garden" "100% Black Thumb Safe"

It was a fun Lock Down project and I am happy to report the Garden is Still Alive!