We all wish we could make amazing hand-made presents for our loved ones each year, don't we? But, please. Like we have that kind of time/ability. I ended up going with a cutting board for my wife. Yes, I have some woodworking abilities but there was no way I would have been able to craft a homemade cutting board for her during the busiest time of the year without her knowing. So, I picked up a sturdy wooden board from Pot and Pantry instead.
It didn't occur to me to customize it until my wife mentioned she would like that. That reminded me of a party we had, years ago where a woman brought over some fruit and put together a fruit salad. It looked delicious but, as another party-goer remarked, "Is it just me or is there something savory about this fruit salad?" Sure enough, she had cut the fruit on an onion-y, garlic-y cutting board. It was gross and I had to choke the whole salad down because of good manners.
Lest the same fate befall me or my wife, I decided to take my wife's mention to heart. Originally, I thought I would go with the same ink I use on my dish towels but then I remembered I had some non-toxic gel stain from a different project lying around so I went with that instead. So far, it's held up to water well and I kept the screen, just in case. Below is the process I went through to get it made.
I usually start with some hand-drawn sketches. Here are all the elements I knew I would need to put the design together, using the onion for the "o".
I assembled the drawing in Photoshop and then printed out my transparency.
I did some test prints first, which really helped the print on the board come out well on the first try.
I let it dry for 24 hours and then put it to use. Now, if you come over and want to chop things, you can't claim we didn't warn you.
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