For our handmade wedding invites I decided to make a pop-up card once again using the laser cutter. Our ceremony was going to take place at the basin in Forset Park (pictured above) with the reception at the planetarium in the park.

I started by creating some stencils of all the main elements, and arranging them so that they create the wedding scene to be. I had to do a couple iterations of the design after doing some test cuts, as you can see in the animated sequence below.

I made this drawing to cut the card from the stock, to etch a folding line, and to etch the stars of the northern sky on the cover. Can you see the big dipper?

For the inside text of the invitation I had a hard time finding a good stencil font. This was my first attempt:

I did not like it, so instead I found a regular font I liked, converted it to an outline in autocad, and then modified the lines to make it a stencil. I also added a stencil for the stars of the southern sky to appear behind the pop-up elements.

I cut out the stencil as well as a rough cut-out of acrylic to hold the stencil down while applying gold spray paint.

Here you can see the final design for the inside pop-up elements. In the lower part you can see I added some cut out flaps to attach each layer to the next. I also realized the planetarium had been missing a couple characters.

After cutting everything out, the last step was assembly. Roller applicators of double stick tape made it go pretty quickly, but in retrospect it did not last as long as gluing.

And here you can see the final result! The video also shows the laser cutter in action!