Slice and dice!

Okay, so getting these designs ready for laser cutting is a bit tougher than I expected(!). It's not like the old days of 2D Design - the process is rather meticulous (which is a common occurrence nowadays it seems).
I decided to start with the simplest elements of my deforestation piece (the scissors and glue bottle), mainly because there's less fallout if smaller things don't work out. By following a very handily-provided checklist for laser cutting (thanks technicians), I started by converting the fills and strokes to their default settings using the convenient "Default Stroke" button.

Once that was done, the really tricky part came about. Because I'd used multiple paths (some of them overlapping) to create my rotoscope tracings, I lost a lot of particular shapes when applying the Default Stroke. I therefore had to go ahead and alter (using the "Anchor Point" tool) or delete all of these overlapping paths.

A few hours later, the designs were up to spec, but just to confirm that they would play ball with the laser cutter, I decided to conduct a more hands-on experiment. I took the altered Illustrator outlines and printed them onto standard A4. 

Then, with the help of a light box, I traced the outlines onto some very good quality white card. 

I then used my craft knife to cut out the stencil shapes (with a cutting mat to support the card). 

Finally, I took a medium-sized paintbrush and some black acrylic paint and completed the stencil designs on cartridge paper.

Suffice to say that I was pleased with the outcome! My tutor also liked the look that the paint had given the stencils themselves, especially on the glue bottle. I actually quite like the distorted look that the paint flecks have given the design. Because these flecks were slightly lacking in the top-right of the bottle, I added some extra distortion by dry-brushing some leftover paint onto the card in the area shown below.

Speaking of which, one part of the glue bottle stencil that couldn't be directly transferred from the card stencil to the cartridge paper was the glue bottle's label (because it's surrounded by black). Leaving a gap or two to join it onto the main stencil spoiled the effect of the distinct black and white areas for me, so instead I simply retraced the label onto another piece of cartridge paper and cut it out with scissors. Then it was a case of just Pritt-sticking the label on the bottle.

I then repeated the process with the scissors. They turned out a little messier than the glue bottle due to the smaller shapes which needed to be cut, but I think that the effect works just as well.
 

So there we go. Seeing as these have turned out so well, the tree and banknote can't be too difficult, right? Right?