(1) convert a cartoon of Barack Obama to a line drawing

(2) shrink the drawing and print it onto a glass plate (mask), using a laser system

(3) shine ultraviolet light through the mask, and onto a thin layer of polymer on a silicon wafer, thereby patterning the polymer by photolithography

(4) coat the wafer with a thin layer of catalyst nanoparticle "seeds" for nanotube growth

(5) remove the remaining polymer, leaving the catalyst seeds in the shapes of the nanobamas

(6) grow the CNTs from the catalyst patterns, by placing the wafer in a high-temperature furnace and filling the furnace with a carbon-containing gas

(7) take pictures of the structures, which are barely visible to the naked eye, using electron and optical microscopes