For some reason these nice Mahjong tiles come in a decomposing vinyl box, which smells horrific. So for my friend Hanh, we have a laser cut and etched box with trays, displaying iconic scenes from "My Neighbor Totoro". The build photos are somewhere, or nowhere (deleted?), but here's the final product.
Not seen: the center tray was the last to cut, since it went through about three iterations. It was too thick at times, and unlike the vinyl predecessor, this wooden case has exact dimensions to prevent rattling around.
All large surfaces, except for the backside of the lid, have rasterized images that were edited to look good when lasered. The lid tile design was part of the Totoro image, so it took the longest to etch. To lessen the processing time, I ran some tests at different settings to find the best quality to speed ratio. Once finished, I gave everything a good power sanding to make the wood less grippy, followed by a light spray of matte acrylic to reduce moisture damage in the future. The trays have holes for pushing tiles out, otherwise you'd have to dump them all over. I purchased the fake leather handle and matched the thin center tray with laser cut fake leather handles with golden thread accents. Oh here, I found an image:
Special thanks to Loi for taking photos of the box.
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