Dinosaur Coaster

This coaster came about as a happy accident. In my original dinosaur coaster, I engraved the dinosaur. The bulb had recently been changed on the laser cutter and I accidentally cut way deeper than I intended to. So, I cut a small piece of acrylic that was approximately the same thickness as the cut depth of the coaster. I love the way the inset acrylic looked, so I made another, but this time I just cut out both parts from the beginning, and cut a separate outline of the entire coaster to use as a backing! I've made these in a few different materials now, but plywood and acrylic both cut really well, and I think that acrylic mirror looks great as part of the dinosaur. For backing material, I like to use either cork or leather. It serves a dual purpose of helping hold all the parts together and not scratching up your table.

I use a laser cutter because my hands are too unsteady for hand tools.

Finish wood pieces with a urethane varnish if you'd like, prior to gluing pieces together. Mix and match materials and use contact cement to glue everything together.