Baseball Championship ring holder

I used the dimensions for a baseball home plate and scaled them down to the dimensions I wanted.  This one is 8.5 inches wide by 8 inches deep.  The wood itself comes from an 1"x10"x 8' piece of furniture grade pine from Home Depot.  Once I had the measurements, I used my table saw to cut the shape of the piece.  I then sanded it smooth.  

The person I made it for wanted the woodgrain to be visible after it was engraved, so my next step was to tape if off and paint the edges black.  Once the edges were painted and dry, I sanded again to cover a few places where the paint bled through.  Then I taped the edges and painted the top and bottom white.  Had the customer wanted it in color, I would have then taped the entire piece with blue painters tape and engraved it.  

For this design, I used an open source file to get the beginning of the baseball stiches, then modified it to fit onto my material, including size, design and general organization.  Once I had it the way I liked, I used XCS to create the text box for the name.  The text was done in Lobster font.

I ran a test on a scrap piece of lumber to ensure it came out OK.  I adjusted the size and shape of the text and the stiches so they would fit better and line up the way I wanted.  I ran another test.  I then positioned my board in the same place as the test piece, lined up the laser and engraved the main piece.

Had the customer wanted color, I would have taped the entire surface in blue painters tape before engraving.

After the machine stopped, I used a magic eraser to removed the smoke and dust residue.  Had this been requested with say, red seams and blue lettering, I would have taped it prior to engraving.  Once the machine finished, I would have dusted it off, then used acrylic paint and a small brush to cover the seems in red and the name in blue, green, pink, etc.  Once the paint dried, I would slowly peel the tape off, revealing the final project.  Any paint seepage I would then correct by whatever means necessary.  I used 5/8" dowel rod, cut into 7 inch lengths for the posts.  I measure in 1.5 inches on the lower side and 2.5 inches for the upper.  I used a 5/32 drill bit and a counter sink bit on the bottom to hide the 1.5 inch brass screws.  I pre-drilled the dowel rods to prevent them from splitting.  Before I installed the rods, I went over the top with a piece of steel wool to give it a final smooth feel, then 2 coats of Rustoleum clear gloss.  I installed the rods and used my rings as an example.  Once we were both satisfied with the outcome, I removed the screws and rods, wrapped the project in bubble wrap and mailed it.