Making a Miniature Version of a Sculpture

So a couple years ago my sister asked me to make her a sculpture
form of the word "Duchess." I used some old plywood and a bunch of
scraps from previous projects to make a fairly large, and heavy
sculpture for her birthday. This year she requested a smaller version
that she could put on her desk at work. So, I put my thinking cap
on and asked myself, "how can I use the software and machines at
TechShop to make this happen?"

Here's my solution.

(Things I used: AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Up!3D Printer, razor, chisel,
dremel, and Airbrush)

This sculpture has a pretty simple, overall design. Given the simple
nature of the design (and the fact that I didn't have access to the
original, to attempt a 3D scan) I simply grabbed a picture of the
piece and dropped it into AutoCAD. I did this mainly as a way to
familiarize myself with AutoCAD. By using the line and arc tools I
traced the outline of the sculpture.
This outline was then imported into an Inventor part file to be extruded
and further modified in a three-dimensional environment. Most of the
features of this project were made with simple extrusions, chamfers,
and fillets. I also used the combine tool to do some boolean operations
to chop the model into sections for 3D printing.
Once the model was finished, I exported .stl of all my parts.

I used the Up! 3D Printer at TechShop San Jose to print out
all my .stl files to ABS Plastic.

Using a razor blade, dremel, and chisel I cleaned up any imperfections in the
print out. Then using an airbrush and bristle brush I applied some acrylic paint.
Snapped all the pieces together to complete the miniature Duchess
sculpture for my sister's birthday present.