Frustrations at the Resistor (or The Best Idea I've Ever Had That Went Nowhere)

Two weeks ago, I had an idea.  This idea burned white hot in my mind, and consumed my thoughts.  I couldn't ignore it, so I put it in motion.  I wanted to put a functional QR code on a cookie.

The resistor has a beautiful laser!  It's getting in to see it that proved difficult.  I never got more than thirty minutes at any given time, and I ended up having to return three separate times to experiment with media or improve my design.

 The acrylic was too heavy right off the bat, but each time I reinforced the design, it came out more whole.

This young artist oversaw my first visit's cut.  I hadn't taken the laser class at the resistor, so it's all training wheels for me.

In the meantime, I prototype two cookie recipes: double chocolate and butter shortbread dipped in dark chocolate.  I need a dark, smooth surface for the positive of my design.  The negative will be a layer of powdered sugar.

Having decided on the dipped chocolate cookies, I go to work preparing over 200 baked goods.

The recipe had a whole dozen eggs and 11+ cups of flour.  I felt like I was shooting an episode of Epic Meal Time.

Oh no! Hot surface = man down!

And the cookies start piling up.

Lily works in the other room as I bake.

It took two days to bake and hand dip each cookie.

Card stock proved to be an improved medium, but the oil of the cookie disintegrated the stencil after one attempt.

The third time I went in to laser cut, I was ready.  I was confident in the lightweight durability of my .030 PETG medium. The line for the laser was long, and I waited  a nervous two hours for my turn.  Again I needed laser supervision.  There was no wiki reference for my material, so I hungrily accepted my new laser partner's advice....at first.  Soon it was clear he suffered from a very common nerd pandemic: negative know-it-all-itis.  He repeatedly told me what I was doing couldn't be done, needed a simpler code, etc.  He wasted my time holding my medium up to light and critiquing its flaws.  My PETG sheet could fit twenty proofs, but he only let me try two before he stopped me.  I was wasting the time of REAL hackers who were in line behind me.  The next member in queue was already impatiently setting up her file on the computer as I experimented with the machine.  All the fine detail of my vector code had held up, but in being so careful, I never even cut completely through, only scoring the medium. 

I will pick this back up upon my return home to Dallas, which now has a set date.  An improvement I intend to try will be using airbrushed white icing in the place of powdered sugar.

Next time: Nezu gets a little culture in her life.