Stray Cat Logo
If you don't know what Stray is, then check it out ASAP! :D
The game has a very cute logo of a cat's face. I made a replica out of aluminum on a request, and since I'm between jobs right now I also had the time for it. Besides, it has been a while since I did any handcrafting.
Almost the original logo. I replaced the head with my handcrafted item.
Since it looks so cool, I obviously made a second one for myself to keep.
It came out even better than I expected. The small cuts are a bit tricky because I use a fretsaw and it tends to wander as I go. Because of this, the horizontal lines at the eyes were cut not from the side, but along the plate, carefully, not to cut it between the eyes. I only needed a dent anyway, then I could cut from the side and the dent will lead the saw.
Since my LEGO Portal Turret article I have further experimented with the cyan/orange lighting. Now, instead of a cold and warm but ultimately white light bulb, I replaced the warm one with an RGB bulb and set it to bright orange. Since I don't have a second bulb (yet!), I kept the cold white one on the other side. Turns out the only thing that really matters is the relative color difference between the two. Plus working with metals makes it easier to do any post adjustments, because neither the metal or the background has any color information, only the light sources, so adjusting the color balance won't make the subject look weird or off-color.
I couldn't decide which angle was best, so here's all of them. Click on any of the images to enlarge them.
Photographing it slightly from an angle makes the edges more visible, emphasizing the light effect.
I'm still using a smartphone camera for all my photos, it's a Huawei P10. It does some white balancing automatically, but after the shot is done, I shift the color balance a bit to make the metal look cold. This also removes the warm spots on the background, leaving only the highlights to have this warm orangy light.