Custom Toast Stamper
1-3 hours
Ages 11-18
What Will You Learn?
Here’s a “toast” to makers everywhere! This easy project makes a fun, custom stamper that embosses your design onto a piece of toast. It’s a simple 3D form that can be made by hand with minimum equipment, or if you have access to a laser cutter, you can knock it out in just a few minutes. It also lends itself to 3D printing.
The version shown makes cute Makey robot-imprinted toast but you can create your own custom design with any message or image.
Step 2
Cut out the bread slice backing piece and the other smaller parts for the Makey bot shapes. You could use a coping saw or bandsaw. Take your time, as the acrylic can be brittle. If you break a corner, no worries: You’ll be solvent bonding the parts together onto the backing later anyway. Any gaps or cracks won’t show up in your final stamped bread.
Step 3
I cut my parts on a Glowforge laser cutter from Proofgrade Thick Acrylic. Or use your own material with Full Power and 1000 Speed settings.
Step 4
Solvent-bond the parts together with methyl chloride acrylic cement in a well-ventilated area. Be sure to let the bonds set fully before using the stamper with food.
What Next?
3D Print It
The design is so simple that it could be 3D printed as well. In Tinkercad or your favorite 3D design program, extrude the 2D shapes in the .svg file, then join them together. Orient the shapes so that the backing plate is on the bottom and printed first.
Get Creative
Make a personalized version for a special birthday, Valentine’s, or any personalized message. Emoji toast, anyone?
To make your own design, use the bread slice backing form as the basic size. Also remember to “mirror flip” your design so that any text reads “right” on the final stamped bread.
Make Toast!
To use your stamper, just press your design down firmly onto a slice of bread, then toast!
Soft white bread works best: It compresses down well with good “resolution”. The compressed, denser areas stay white while the other areas toast nicely.
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This article was originally posted on Make: on June 9, 2020 by Bob Knetzger.
PARTS
- Acrylic sheet, ¼" thick, about 6"×12" Extruded acrylic is easy to laser-cut and to cement. Cast acrylic might be a bit less sticky to cut by hand.
- Acrylic cement, methyl chloride solvent type
Maker Camp Project Standards
Based on NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
National Core Arts Standards
The National Core Arts Standards are a process that guides educators in providing a unified quality arts education for students in Pre-K through high school. These standards provide goals for Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts with cross-cutting anchors in Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting through art. The Anchor Standards include:- Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
- Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
- Refine and complete artistic work.
- Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
- Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
- Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.
- Perceive and analyze artistic work.
- Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
- Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work.
- Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
- Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.
CCSS (Common Core State Standards)
The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA).Geometry
- Grades K-2
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.1 Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.2 Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.3 Identify shapes as two-dimensional (lying in a plane, "flat") or three-dimensional ("solid").
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.B.5 Model shapes in the world by building shapes from components (e.g., sticks and clay balls) and drawing shapes.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.B.6 Compose simple shapes to form larger shapes.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.G.A.1 Distinguish between defining attributes (e.g., triangles are closed and three-sided) versus non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation, overall size); build and draw shapes to possess defining attributes.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.G.A.2 Compose two-dimensional shapes (rectangles, squares, trapezoids, triangles, half-circles, and quarter-circles) or three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, and right circular cylinders) to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes from the composite shape.
- Grades 3-5
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.G.A.3 Recognize a line of symmetry for a two-dimensional figure as a line across the figure such that the figure can be folded along the line into matching parts. Identify line-symmetric figures and draw lines of symmetry.
- Middle School
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.G.A.4 Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.G.A.1 Solve problems involving scale drawings of geometric figures, including computing actual lengths and areas from a scale drawing and reproducing a scale drawing at a different scale.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.G.A.2 Draw (freehand, with ruler and protractor, and with technology) geometric shapes with given conditions. Focus on constructing triangles from three measures of angles or sides, noticing when the conditions determine a unique triangle, more than one triangle, or no triangle.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.G.A.3 Describe the two-dimensional figures that result from slicing three-dimensional figures, as in plane sections of right rectangular prisms and right rectangular pyramids.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.A.1 Verify experimentally the properties of rotations, reflections, and translations.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.A.3 Describe the effect of dilations, translations, rotations, and reflections on two-dimensional figures using coordinates.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.A.4 Understand that a two-dimensional figure is similar to another if the second can be obtained from the first by a sequence of rotations, reflections, translations, and dilations; given two similar two-dimensional figures, describe a sequence that exhibits the similarity between them.
NGSS MS.Engineering Design
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.- MS-ETS1-1. Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
- MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
- MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.
- MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
NGSS HS.Engineering Design
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K–12 science content standards.- HS-ETS1-1. Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
- HS-ETS1-2. Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable problems that can be solved through engineering.
- HS-ETS1-3. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
- HS-ETS1-4. Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem with numerous criteria and constraints on interactions within and between systems relevant to the problem.
