Laser Cut Lamp

This one is stunning. It is from a seller on Etsy.com by the name of Ron Macken, but the link its dead from Rare Bird Finds, but this is his site, Light Wave Laser. Usually the laser cut work that comes down the pike relies far to heavily on standard form made in Adobe Illustrator - this one does as well, but the scale and organization is impeccable. The only issue I have is with the shape of the foot of the lamp witch I think could be simpler and less traditional.

The Kazo Lamp

Ok, it's not laser cut, but the Raw Kazu Lamp by Softboiled on Etsy.com would be so amazing if it were. You could laser cut an intricate pattern in acrylic then bend it with a heat gun to create the shape.

TLC Interview: Christopher Thompson

I first found out about Chris though Thingiverse and his owl... And I am assuming that he is the one with the rabbit on his head - not the rabbit - I don't think rabbits can work a laser cutter because their attention spans are not long enough.

Anyway, Thanks Chris and enjoy!
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The Laser Cutter: So, Where are you from?

Christopher Thompson: I grew up in Hillsborough, NJ, but I have lived in Philadelphia for 5 years. I just bought a house!

TLC: Congrats! And how long have you been making stuff?

CT: I've been a designer/artist/maker for as long as could be. When I was a kid I made amazing things with Legos and wanted to be an inventor. Then I went to Lehigh University to be an engineer.

TLC: Do you have any formal training?

CT: Engineering at Lehigh didn't quite work out for me, so I switched to the new Design Arts program where I got to learn industrial design, furniture design, graphic design and studio art. I got my BA in Design Arts in 2004.

TLC: Was it at Lehigh University where you first began using a laser cuter?

CT: After college I spent 3 years as a stained glass artisan, but left for my current job doing boring graphics stuff. But they have a laser cutter! So I've been playing with that for almost 2 years now.

TLC: How do you set up your files?

CT: I mainly use [Adobe] Illustrator, but I've been getting better at SketchUp as well. There are a lot of FOSS programs out there for design that I need to get familiar with. But of course, you still have to run it through clunky old CorelDraw to print anything to the laser.

TLC: I’m lucky – I just hand off my Illustrator files and the tech takes care of everything else.

Do you have a favorite material to laser cut or etch?

CT: I would love to use more wood in my stuff, but my work has a large supply of scrap acrylic that I try to use up.

TLC: Do you have any laser cutting horror stories to tell?

CT: I've been pretty good about careful setups so nothing gets ruined, but I've had some nightmares trying to get high res images to print to the laser and clipping paths in Corel are really confusing.

TLC: Where do you get your inspiration?

CT: I really like the tenets of Henry Dreyfuss and his simplicity and streamlining. Of course the Owlwrap design is 100% form following function. I made all the working parts fit together first, and then noticed it resembled an owl before adding decoration.

TLC: Do you have any future laser cutting plans TLC may be interested in?

CT: I will own my own laser cutter one day and it will be awesome. In the meantime, I have been working with some friends making meatcards.com: laser–etched, beef jerky business cards. We are now accepting alpha-testers, if you can complete the challenge.

TLC: So where can the readers reach you?

CT: My site is eagleapex.com, and you can reach me by the name eagleapex wherever good internets are found.

TLC: One last question… Is there any smell better than freshly laser cut wood?

CT: Maybe, freshly etched beef jerky? Maybe.

Design Sponge Knows About TLC

Yeah, Design Sponge mentioned The Laser Cutter. At first they misspelled my name, but the link was correct!

A Drum Kit...

Make it yourself and annoy your friends and family! From Hacked Gadgets.

PS: What is up with the "DKK"? Come on - skulls, the devil - it's rock n' roll!

Stringcraft In 3D

The book is Stringcraft In 3D, and on my road to making my string lamp, I bought it.

It's from 1976, and my first thought is to say it's not very good, but then I am at a loss to name another 3D string art book. The problem is that is translates patterns from a previous book into 3D - so there isn't really a guide to those patterns. Also it is way too short: 31 pages and the book is only 6.5" Square.

If you can get for around $5- including delivery, go for it.

If you know another book I should check out, let me know.

Planetary Gears Business Card

Phooky, the creator, actually calls it a calling card.
Check it out at Thingiverse.com and make your own by downloading the file.

Elisa Stroyzk: Wooden Carpet...

And of course it's laser cut.

Read about it at Dezeen,
and at Elisa Stroyz's website.

Laser Cut Speakers

I was a bit taken aback when I first saw these speakers from Apartment Therapy - they disguised that the wood was laser cut! Why is that so shocking to me? They really look amazing.

The Puffer Lamp

Puffer lamp, originally uploaded by sjunnesson.

Yeah, I'm probably totally going to rip this off - it's too cool, and really similer to this one at Ponoko.

Daniel Widrig

GX20 130 Daniel Widrig - Laser cut model, originally uploaded by watz.

From Daniel Widrig on Flickr. It's like Hans Bellmer but way less pervy...

Piegato Shelf

Laser cut steel, from Yanko Design, 2 screws, you just bend it into shape, and it's less than $200!

In Action!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olafur Eliasson...

Is a little crazy, but all geniuses are...

Isn't it amazing how detailed it is because the paper sheets are so thin?

Read more at Origami Tessellations.

Images copyright to Kremo.

Earrings...

From Infraredstudio on DesignSpotter.com

I wish my school would laser cut metal:(

Vinyl Records

These records are by Carlos Aires' Love Is In The Air from Notcot.com. Cool, huh?

Anyone know how you set up a round item to be laser cut? Just to a square format with a circle in it and delete the circle before you send it out?

Laptop Stand

This Laptop stand is from TodBot.com and is pretty cool, but I totally would have used .25" Plexiglas. Don't you love how it interlocks so it can be disassembled later?

And of course there is the file for download.

The New Thing...

The New Thing is fun and/or interactive business cards. This one from Adafruit is not only a really cool laser cut one, but also a has the file for download - and it made me think: do I still have my old Spirograph???

The First Post...

So this is the first post to my new blog about Laser Cutting. I'm kind of obsessed with it. Is there anything more cool than using a laser cutter? Really? The the pick is from a new project I'm starting - it one of those 70's string lights. I'm making my own to be used as shades for two vintage Laurel lamps. When I'm finished I plan to post a how-to to Instructables.com...