Microwave-bent Plywood

I'm interested in bent plywood techniques.

ZenziWerken uses an intriguing technique to craft this bowl. 6mm birch plywood is cut (a CNC router was used here). Then the cut-out was rinsed with water and microwaved at 600W for 1 minute. The bowl is then shaped in a form (another bowl in this case) with lead weights and clamps. The bowl was allowed to dry and harden. Finally, some wood glue was applied at the tops of the spiral arms.

https://www.zenziwerken.de/en/Haushaltsgegenstaende/Dekoschalen

The project files
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2171550

Box Generators

A storage box with a matching lid.
(Error: The lower box height was
the height I had intended for both
the box and the lid. Also, tabs on
lid could fit more tightly.)

I have built a handful of laser-cut projects based on boxes generated by www.makercase.com. Starting with generic box designs generated to my size specifications by the webapp, I modify and customize the box designs in Illustrator to create matching nesting boxes, lids, additional supports, ornamentation and other variations.

Box generators are an effective way to make easily laserable box designs with pre-layed-out joints. (I find box joints, sometimes called finger joints, work well for most of my designs.) There are many box generators. Many are webapps, some are Python scripts, one is a plug- in for Inkscape. This Instructables article provides an excellent survey: The Ultimate Guide to Laser-cut Box Generators.

The major problem I have been encountering with the box-generator-Illustrator scheme is that it puts too much design complexity downstream from the box generation for anything but the most trivial projects. The scheme relies heavily on your wits and planning to get everything to line up and fit.