Personalised gifts are always well received. Here is a quick gift for someone I made as a thank you for their efforts in my team, before they moved on to a new role.
I have made a number of cat-shaped phone holders previously (portrait version, sideways facing and updated version) and decided to use the template I made previously to repeat the process. I also bought some black acrylic paint, so decided to test that out on our existing phone holder which has been living in the kitchen since I made it previously.
I was really happy with how the black paint made the features more visible from a distance, so set about creating a new version.
I cut the shape out of a piece of pine using the template and then marked on the face design in pencil. I used my Dremel mounted in the Dremel stand to carve out the face design using a small ball-tipped cutting bit.
I put my stamp on the bottom and then used the black acrylic paint to colour in the carved face design. This ended up being a bit heavier and thicker lines than I wanted, but some sanding quickly cleaned that up.
I finished the cat phone holder with some Danish oil and then left it to dry for a few days before giving it as a gift to my team member.
They were really happy with the present and when I met them again recently, said the cat has been sitting on their desk since I gave it to them! 🔨
The Woodworking Scientist 