For the two materials assignment, my first thought was to use the spike studs that are usually used on distressed clothing on some things that are considered sophisticated or zen-ish. I landed on the incense holder. I made the incense holder itself with a stack of three laser-cut clear acrylics.

The initial plan was to make a tray with studs on the surface that catches the ashes. That didn’t work out. So I made a hoster with studs on the outside to have the same aesthetics.

The first thing I did was cut a piece of square-ish wood and sanded out all sides, with round edges, and a hole in the middle to hold the incense holder. The issue came when I was drilling the shallow holes to set the studs. But the grain of the wood might be too soft or is in the wrong direction, both the hand drill and the drill press was tearing the surface of the wood apart. Therefore this idea was not doable anymore.


I do want to keep this piece and later on attach a thin layer with a laser-cut hole to hold the studs. The layer itself will be attached to the rest of the wood and be sanded together.

The main reason when I failed to drill a small hole into the large piece is that I did test runs on the scrap from the same piece of wood. I was drilling the side of the grain, and it did rip any of the wood. So I had the idea to do the hoster thing for class.


It was very difficult to drill straight lines of holes in general let alone curved surfaces. So I decided to do random locations, which worked out nicely visually.


The main takeaway from this assignment was that material really matters in this project. Even from the side some holes still ripped from the surface.