Just in time for wedding season, bamboo cake toppers of animals in love <3

Ponoko-made products by Valerie Thai

It was love — of wood — that lead designer Valerie Thai to laser cutting.

“I have always loved working with wood as a medium. In the past I did a lot of woodburning (pyrography) as a hobby and craft,” she says.

When Valerie started seeing laser cut wood designs on various blogs, she decided to research the method a little more. She then came across Ponoko in the Etsy forums. “It was really exciting to know that there was a way I could work directly with a user-friendly laser cutting company,” she tells me.

(more…)

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Laser cut fashionistas

The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #117

Hey, Sam here collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.

Make sure you join TLC’s Facebook page.

Above laser cut mdf T-shirt from Pauline Marcombe via Dezeen.

After the jump, hands, collars, and inverted disco balls… (more…)

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Pigs for laser cutting

The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #116

Hey, Sam here collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.

Make sure you join TLC’s Facebook page.

Above is a laser cut corrugated cardboard pig from Manuel Moser.

After the jump, flowers and  hair… (more…)

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Rapid 3D construction with LaserOrigami

Using a laser cutter to make 3D forms, fast

Pushing the boundaries of what is possible with laser cutting, researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institute have discovered how to make 3D objects using a standard 2D laser cutter.

The technique, dubbed LaserOrigami, takes advantage of carefully controlled changes in calibration that are usually the focus of maintaining a clean cut. Instead, a deliberately de-focused laser is used to heat the plastic enough for the material to bend. Gravity does the rest, as the sheet is alternately cut, heated, bent and turned to produce impressively complex forms.

One of the notable advantages of this technique is the speed at which the 3D form can be achieved.  Click through for a comparison between 3D printing, traditional laser cutting and LaserOrigami as well as a video of the laser in action. (more…)

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Foxy laser cutting

The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #115

Hey, Sam here collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.

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Above is a laser cut fox and babies brooch via Sally Crossthwaite.

After the jump, a crane, an African Village, and  Redd at work… (more…)

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Laser cut way finding

The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #114

Hey, Sam here collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.

Make sure you join TLC’s Facebook page.

Above is a laser cut and etched map of Calgary from Solarbotic with artwork from David Byroe and cut at Protospace.

After the jump, a lamp, feathers, and  pagoda… (more…)

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Which comes first, the product or the business? For iluxo designer Mariko, it’s business from the start.

Ponoko-made products by Mariko Carandang

Most small creative companies start with a product — not a business plan. But Mariko Carandang of iluxo was all business right from the beginning.

“One day I decided that I wanted to start a company and start selling things on Etsy,” she says. “I wasn’t already making something that I wanted to sell. I asked myself ‘Now what should I make?”

As a web developer and designer in San Francisco, she had the software skills to jump into digital fabrication. Mariko did lots of product research ranging from materials to manufacturing methods to fashion trends. She finally decided to enter the competitive market of laser-cut jewelry, and the next big question was how to set her designs apart from the crowd.

“Laser-cutting is inherently flat, so I thought a good way to differentiate my first product was to make something 3D. That’s where the idea of creating a locket came from,” she says of her first design.

(more…)

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Flat pack laser cutting

The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #112

Hey, Sam here collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.

Make sure you join TLC’s Facebook page.

Also I just launched my new site called The Deep Channels – it has nothing to do with laser cutting, but you may like it. We have a Facebook page for that too.

Above is a laser etched skate deck from Scott Moore at Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction.

After the jump, bears, boxes, blood, packaging, and a table… (more…)

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With a need for speed, Chicago burlesque dancer makes her own feather fan

Ponoko-made project by Donna Touch

When burlesque dancer Donna Touch first tried using those big, flirtatious feathered fans, she knew she couldn’t work with them.

“I wanted to move them around with a lot of speed, something different from what most dancers were doing. But the fans were so heavy, slow and cumbersome, and really difficult to hold,” she explains. So Donna decided to maker her own.

“I did a Google search for ‘custom laser cut’ and found (more…)

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Laser cutters in glass houses

The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #111

Hey, Sam here collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.

Make sure you join TLC’s Facebook page.

Also I just launched my new site called The Deep Channels – it has nothing to do with laser cutting, but you may like it. We have a Facebook page for that too.

Above, Lucy Williams makes these images using a number of materials as well as laser cutting and etching. This image is Summerhouse from her Glass Houses series from 2010. You can see more at McKee Gallery.

After the jump, a Space Invaders chess set, a chair, and Ron Swonson… (more…)

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