Laser-Cut Transparent Acrylic Artwork of a Piet Mondrian Composition With Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Grey and Blue, 1921

A laser-cut transparent acrylic artwork of a Piet Mondrian Composition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Grey and Blue, 1921

• Translucent acrylic sheets in Red, Yellow, Grey, White Black, and Blue.
• A laser cutting machine
• Adhesive

The Makerspace I am a member of has a laser cutting machine I can use. I have tested it out a few times but I wanted a real project to use it on. I had the idea that I could use translucent acrylic sheets to make some artwork to go on the window. I found this artwork I like by the Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian with the succinct name "Composition with Large Red Plane, Yellow, Black, Grey and Blue, 1921"

I opened the image in a design program called Inkscape and traced over the lines. Then I saved it out as an SVG (attached if you want to use the same image as me).

I edited the SVG for each colour I needed and (using Inkscape) saved out the files as .dxf files which the later cutting machine needs to cut out shapes. I moved the shapes close together to save on the material required. First I did the black lines, adding a border to frame the piece. The painting lacks a black frame but I felt I needed this to hold the piece together (physically).

(I forgot to take into account kerning which is the width of the laser cutter that you will use. If you copy this, make the pieces 3mm bigger to take into account the edging you will lose by later cutting.)

Put each sheet of acrylic in the laser cut and send the .dxf to the machine to cut out. I used a speed of 5mm/s and a strength of 80-90%.

I used a Tensol 12 Acrylic Adhesive that I found on Amazon for £8. Use a cotton bud or small paintbrush to apply to the edges of the shapes and stick them together. Be careful not to get any of the adhesive over the faces of the artwork.

(This stuff is pretty nasty so use gloves and wipes and make sure your area is ventilated. Keep the adhesive in a Tupperware container and wash your hands after use.

Your art is done!

Attach to a window and let the light shine through on your masterpiece.