Vinyl Tattoo

Vinyl Tattoo

This project was on of the first projects where I was allowed full freedom over the design and creation. In this project the goal was to use a vinyl cutter to cut out "tattoo" (aka large sticker design). I was tasked with making a 2D original design on Rhino that would be cut out in vinyl and placed on an object.

Research

First I was tasked with researching tattoo designs that I liked and using inspirations from the tattoos to come up with five sketches for my design. I have made some of my research into a collage (displayed below). I used inspiration from each of them in elements of my sketches.

After analyzing my reference tattoos I came back and looked for more pictures to solidify my final idea. I have put some of those images below and after have my sketches.

In the end I came up with six sketches. In the image below I display all six but I chose the larger one that is an hour glass. I love the concept of night and day, life and death and wanted to bring those concepts into my "tattoo".

After selecting my idea I began to create my tattoo in Rhino.

Working on the Tattoo

First I uploaded my sketch image into Rhino and worked on using freeform polylines, acrs, and other curves to make the different outlines of my sketch. I started with the basic hourglass shape then moved to the topper pieces (the flower and skull). From there I moved on to the inside of the piece (the dessert and the night sky) till I was satisfied by my work.

 After I was happy with my design on Rhino and ensured all of the lines were closed figures I began to export segments to be cut in vinyl.

By the end of the project my design on Rhino was really solid and I was super excited to see it come to life and get the pieces cut out and assembled. Admittedly assembly of the different vinyls was not as fun because I had created a lot of small components that I wanted in line and flush on the final product but I learned a lot about the limits of vinyl.
I put my vinyl on a square of semi transparent plexiglass. The plexiglass allows light to filter through and the design looks very cool lit from behind.

In the future I have kept in mind that the designs on Rhino though they may seem large can be very small (thanks to the power of zooming). Small pieces cut into vinyl can be difficult to work with, that is as long as they are able to be cut out without pulling up. I will be able to take this knowledge moving forward to improve my Rhino 2D creation skills.
Limitations know how small stuff is