Laser Lovelies

  

The lovely laser cut items in todays post show the variety of designs

and ideas you can create using this technique. Above is a laser cut brooch by

the Australian illustrator and designer Naomi Murrell.

Bird decorations by Lush Designs with laser cut wings

A wreath laser cut from white cardboard by Cardboard Safari

A laser cut butterfly from an installation of "Biomimetic Butterflies"

at the McLeod Residence gallery in Seattle

Laser Cafe

In looking for great examples of designs using laser cutting, I came across the Fab Cafe which opened in Shibuya, Tokyo in March this year. They aim to provide a space where people can enjoy making things in an exciting environment that's furnished with a variety of digital fabrication tools, including a laser cutter that will cut or engrave almost anything! Below are just a few of the things that have been created at the cafe.

Customise your iPhone case

...or your Mac with your own design

The laser cut net for a woodpecker below

Customise your own stamp

 To create a design, all you need to do is take it to the cafe as an Abobe Illustrator vector file and plug it into the laser cutter. It will then cut out or engrave the design for you on lots of different materials, including paper, felt, acrylic and wood. It costs 2000 yen (just over £15) to share the machine with up to 3 people for 30 minutes, or 5000 yen (just over £38) if you want the machine to yourself. Below are some images of the cafe itself, where even the drinks are cute and creative!

  

Printing Blocks

The possiblities of designing using Laser Cutting technology seem endless, because it

can be used to cut almost any material. So over the next few days, I'm going to post

some brilliant creations using this method. Today I've found this beautiful alphabet that has been laser cut from a 3mm birch plywood and is based on a Bodoni Poster font. It

was digitally created using Adobe Illustrator by Nigel Bents, Paul Oakley and Jonny Holmes from Chelsea College of Art & Design, and shows how a project started digitally

can come full circle and be hand finished.