Locating- Lasercutting

From my drawings the edges were standing out to me and it was suggested to me in a tutorial that I  lasercut my designs onto a surface. After working out how to transfer my design onto Illustrator and then Corel Draw I cut the designs into wood, acrylic and  fabric. The acrylic and fabric designs were not as succesful, the cotton fabric did not give enough definition of the outer edge and appeared like a camouflage design. The acrylic was more successful but still did not achieve the look I was after, it was too clean and flat. However the wood was more successful,  I particular liked the burnt effect produced on the edge, which starts to give the impression of a softer finish to the edges as seen in my drawings. I also like the weight and the thickness as it was light enough to be able to hang well. I used MDF as it was the cheapest wood based material to sample with, but I would like to experiment with Ply wood as this is more environmentally friendly as well as having a interesting grain to it. I would also like to add colour to my samples, either in the form of staining the wood or adding embellishment to the surface. By layering the components more depth and interest is created as well as starting to resemble contours of a map.

I started to wrap pieces in thread, I would like to take this idea further of mixing the soft and the hard and adding to the surface. This idea responds to the Geoffrey Manton brief and the ideas I'm following in that I'm impacting on the surface through my actions, just as we as humans are impacting on the earth through our own control and action.  

After lasercutting the wood, I decided to sample with some acrylic and I thought that a combination of the hard and soft materials could work well. However I did not like the results that came out. The acrylic look too clean cut and there was so hint of softening at the edges as on the wood with the slight burn. It would need a very strong and striking backdrop to sit against too when hung, which is not provided in Gerofrey Manton in terms of pattern or colour.  I also cut some samples in felt, but the felt was not thick enough and therefore the components were not as sturdy. The line in the felt was also not as defined as the acrylic or the wood and this is an element that I am keen to maintain for the final piece.