My fiance would like me to make 11 sea creature silhouettes for our wedding this weekend.
What material would you recommend that I can buy in town, is rigid, and has a thickness? I would like to do engraved silhouettes. I have never done plastic or anything, the only thin board i have is plywood which would require sanding. MDF would be too breakable.
On short notice? I would try your standard 1/4" plastic cutting boards, preferring HDPE. If you must paint the silhouette, make sure you have a food-safe barrier between the silhouette and the cake (glass, HDPE base cut from scrap, disc cut from a white disposable plate…)
they’re for named tables. 11 different animals. lol. I would like to roll paint on them, so that the etched part is a diff color.
Ah, good. A little less pressure then. My wife chose made most of our wedding decorations by hand… it was… stressful. 
What kind of shopping options to you have “in town?”
lowes, home depot, jo-anne, michaels
Michaels sales PVC sheets
Looks like a cutout with no engraving. Those look like cut-throughs on the letters.
Probably would just set up a Vbit to cut through.
Michaels also has a lot of prepped and shaped wooden plaques. You could also find some stands there and save time not having to put something together.
Wood is the standby. Lowes sells project length 1x poplar - this takes paint really well. If you need something larger than a 1x8, lowes also has edge joined panels. These usually have blemishes, but you often work around the worst and hide the small problems under paint.
thanks for the replies, i have panels in the garage, I was looking for something about 1/8 to 1/4 in thick. I’ll try michaels!
I cut these regularely for my wife who own a baking shop, I use 1/16" two-colored plastic sheet, food safe, (ABS if I remember correctly) and 30deg V-bits.
I get my materials from a local sign-shop.
I run the carve twice, once to cut through (Two passes at 50% depth increments), then a second full-depth pass to clear the plastic fussies. 55IPM at 10k RPM.
Masking tape and CA to hold the sheet down.
