With my previous Blinky design, I expanded the lines to give it a more bold effect. With this Lard Lad design I did not as I felt that due to this one having much more lines and closer together, the design would get a bit too “busy” so I left them as simple lines. Didn’t turn out too bad at all, but I feel bolder lines would still look better. Maybe next time.
If you’re interested in buying this, here’s the Etsy link.
Extremely happy with how this one turned out! After testing the fill option on my previous design, I decided to expand the lines on a design and see how bolder lines would look once stained and it looks perfect! Going forward I’m going to implement this method where possible.
If you’re interested in buying this, here’s the Etsy link.
While I know it’s not a massive step forward in expanding my laser engraving skills, this is one of the very first designs I completed testing the fill options as opposed to simple line engraving. I was ecstatic with the results too! Obviously you’ll know where this logo comes from if you’re a big Simpsons fan.
If you’re interested in buying this, here’s the Etsy link.
This one sort of worked out, but not exactly how I had hoped. Regardless I still spent the time making it so here it is. This design is another original one I made for my RedBubble shop. It’s Hans Moleman as a ghost saying “Boo-urns” and if you’re a big Simpsons fan you’ll understand the reference. With the text bubble, I need to make a border and that resulted in a lot of negative space, so I put a pumpkin there to fill it out. I may revisit the design at a later date and try something else as overall I was satisfied with the space and pumpkin addition. Oh well.
If you’re interested in buying this, here’s the Etsy link.
After my first 2 coaster sets, I took a long break from tinkering with my laser cutter/engraver. Eventually I started back up and I was also wondering what else could I make besides coasters. Among other options I did also think of fridge magnets. So to add to my workshop I picked up a glue gun and magnet tape. As for the design, I converted the Shelbyville lemon eater vector design for my Redbubble shop into a laser file and hit print. I then stained it with the same stain I used for my other coaster sets. I was quite happy with the cut itself but did notice that doing line cuts left the design a bit hard to see with the chosen stain but it wasn’t too bad just a takeaway note to myself. I then put on the magnets and slapped it on my fridge. For me one of the best feelings was learning how to convert my already made vector designs into the laser readable file. The easy conversion opened up a big doorway for me as I’ve got many designs already created that I want to bring to life in stained wood form.
If you’re interested in buying this, here’s the Etsy link.
After my first attempt at laser cutting and staining, I decided to make another set but this time the symbols from Magic the Gathering. These are also simple stencils and I wanted to try out the image tracer on the laser cutter software. They didn’t end up perfect, but they were good enough for me back then so I stained them and put them up on my Etsy shortly after my Witcher set. These too sold so I was quite excited. After I completed these though, I took a years long break from playing with the laser cutter as life generally got in the way. But as mentioned, I did get recently back into it and will be posting those soon.
This has been a very long time coming, I mean years. And I say that not because I’ve spent those years creating some sort of grand artistic work, but because I’m a horrible procrastinator and have zero artistic skills which made me hesitant to approach any artistic endeavour. When I began this blog nearly a decade ago, one of the creative pursuits I had hoped to spend some time exploring is creating video gamed theme artwork or crafts. I can’t really say I delved too far into it, and what I have tinkered with I have either not completed or was unhappy with the result and discarded it.
However, over the last few years I developed an interest in vector illustration which naturally led me down the rabbit hole of laser cutting and engraving. So I went ahead and purchased an entry level laser cutter and began playing with it. One of the first things I made was a set of 5 coasters with the magic signs from the Witcher video game series. These were very easy to make, simple straight vectors and very basic laser cutting settings. I found the simple basswood too boring so I picked up some wood stain and gave them a little panache. Though I see some flaws in them such as the odd bubble and also stain blotches due to my inexperience, I was satisfied enough with them that I felt they were worthy of my Etsy store that had nothing in it. Surprisingly they ended up selling after a while and I hope Ethan is enjoying them! I had made these well over a year or two ago and stepped back from other projects back then, but now I feel motivated and have many more plans that I’m finally going to get around to doing so I felt I can now create this category for my blog and finally start working on more projects!
Cubicle Coma 