Project 2 - Mass Producible Object Proposal

For project two, I want to expand on my current project, but I think that I should finish it up closer to the end of term. I dramatically redesigned the edges to contain straight edges so that they are easily stackable and portable, like an Ikea shelf would be.

In terms of naming it as a product, I would advertise it along the lines of "geometric dragon bookshelf" because I want to keep the name relatively literal.

I ended up making a lot of progress on redesigning the bookshelf to be cut exclusively on the CNC machine. I was pretty torn over designing the curved shelves, so I approached it with the intent of using only straight boards with diagonal cuts.

Until then, I'd like to work on a project that is relatively small scale but will still take up the rest of my semester. When considering mass-production, the first thoughts that come to mind is something that can appeal to an audience. So for this project, instead of making an object designed for myself, I want to create an object for someone else. I was particularly thinking about objects that belonged in a home setting with some sort of utilitarian use.

Initially, I saw a clock project on a table in the thing tank and I thought that would be a good project, but then I started thinking about intimate items that could continue to use wood as a material. This led me to the idea of a wooden tie. My immediate thought was that it would solve my issue of being unable to tie a knot neatly despite the amount of time I've tried putting into learning different ways of tying a tie. 

I looked up "wooden tie" into google to see if this was an existing project and the versions I saw online tend to be made with cord running through each section of the wood, but I think that is going to be too complex for this short of a project. (I think this could be worked around using the CNC machine and cutting a pocket in one set of wood and gluing it to another but the whole point of switching to this project in my mind was to move away from the CNC machine due to accessibility)

Instead, I am thinking about holding the pieces together by gluing some sort of fabric to the back of the tie. I have some scrap canvas that could potentially be used on the laser cutter, but I am also open to getting a different type of fabric. My main consideration here is durability. For the wood, I would like to work with the 3mm craft plywood, preferably in a lighter color because I also want to varnish it. 

To be able to wear this, I would like to attach a bolo tie mechanism to the back of the knot. I am thinking that I could either buy bolo tie clasps and attach it myself or I could continue to think about a homemade sliding mechanism. 

I would like to make two, one that would be sized for myself and one that would be gifted to my dad. I'm hoping that I could ask my dad about patterns he'd like so that I could laser engrave it. When I asked my dad about ties he owned, he said that he only really has two ties. One has our clan's tartan on it.

The other one is his PPCLI tie.

I want to push this project beyond just a simple laser cut outline, so I plan on engraving some sort of design on it. From what I can tell about the ties my dad wears, I would likely go with a sort of stripe pattern (or maybe I completely avoid stripes altogether to give him something new). I think that the pattern may also be dependent on letting the wood grain show through if I even decide that a pattern is necessary.