Sea Turtle-Shaped Shadow Box

My daughter created this sea turtle-shaped shadowbox, which she named “Save the Turtles,” for a BETA Club woodworking project in 5th grade. In this Instructable, I’ll explain the steps we followed to create her shadowbox. The design consists of eight layers of laser-cut and engraved basswood plywood.

Tools:

- xTool S1 40W Laser Engraver

- Paintbrushes

Software:

- xTool Creative Space

- AutoCAD 2020

Materials:

- 12” sheets of 3mm basswood plywood

- Watercolor paint

- Wood glue

We began by finding a simple sea turtle profile and an underwater scene that we thought would suit the project well.

We decided to build the scene using three layers, with an engraved background on the back panel. The sea turtle would form the outer frame of the shadowbox. We also added spacer layers between each cut layer and the back panel to enhance the box’s depth.

We edited the turtle profile by erasing everything inside the shell and used the tracing feature in Creative Space to create a vector from the edited image. We created one copy of the turtle without the lines to be the spacer layers.

Initially, I planned to scan and import her drawings directly into Creative Space and combine them with the turtle profile. However, I struggled with this process and ultimately used AutoCAD to digitize the hand-drawn elements with the spline tool. In hindsight, the current version of Creative Space likely would have handled the task, but I couldn’t make it work with the older version.

Use the laser engraver to cut and engrave the eight layers of basswood plywood.

Cut Setting: 100% power and 12 mm/sec speed

Score Setting: 30% power and 120 mm/sec speed

We painted the scene and the turtle using watercolor paint to bring it to life.

Use wood glue to assemble the layers. We glued two layers at a time, allowing them to cure overnight under weight. Once dry, apply two coats of clear coat to seal and protect the piece.

We had a blast working on this project, and we hope you enjoy this Instructable!