This cute little owl papercutting is part of my ongoing papercutting project that I started a couple of years ago. (Adapting and hand-cutting my way through the designs in “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” by Dover Books.)
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Owl Papercutting K107
Design number 107 in the book was easy to name, for once! It’s an owl. This one took quite a few tweaks to turn it into a papercutting, mainly because the central dots of its eyes were just ‘floating’ and not connected to any other parts of the design. I needed to extend the feathery outer bits of the eyes so that the pupils could ‘hang’ from them.
This ended up as one of the neatest cuts I’ve made so far. In many of the previous cuts I’ve said “what a shame I didn’t tidy up the cut before I photographed it”…
… but I seem to have suddenly realised that there is nothing stopping me doing the tidying! So instead of leaving any ragged bits and bobs I snipped them off before I took the photo. Duh.
Closer up:
There were lots of little curved lines in this cut, but the scalpel did a pretty good job.
Even up close I like it.
While I was cutting it I was still listening to the audiobook version of Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris. I am coming round to the idea of audiobooks as a ‘productivity tool’. Sanderson’s books are normally huuuuuuge big chunky tomes, and take days to read. Being able to listen to a book while doing gardening and household chores has been a real bonus, this week.
Any comments about the design, or advice about the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
I’m still working on the papercutting project that I started a couple of years ago. (Trying to adapt and (hand-) cut my way through all designs in “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” by Dover Books.) None of designs in the book have names – they just have numbers. I’ve called number 106 “Sunrise Flower” because it looks a tiny bit like a cross between a flower with leaves, and a sun with rays spreading out from it.
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Sunrise Flower Papercut K106
As mentioned above this week’s design is number 106 in the book (in case you want to hunt it down and cut it yourself).
It might not look like much, but it was very enjoyable to cut.
Closer up:
I think I was using a fairly new blade, so it was very easy to cut the flowing curved lines. Even the tricky delicate bits cut from the central parts of the design felt fairly easy.
Yes, up close it’s a bit asymmetrical and that thin curved line of the ‘sun’ goes a bit too thin…but that’s the difference between hand-cutting and laser-cutting these designs. The hand-cut pieces aren’t meant to be perfect – that’s what gives them their individuality and charm 🙂
I’m still using the pack of 100 scalpel blades that I bought a couple of years ago, but at some point I’ll need to get some refills. Here is a link I found to some new ones:
While I was cutting it I was listening to an audiobook version of Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris. I’m still not sure what I think of audiobooks. I definitely prefer to read physical books (or even ebooks). Partly because I like so see how names are spelled, I guess. But if I’m using my hands for something else (like crafts or chores or driving) then I love listening to podcasts because I’m still learning new stuff all the time. So audiobooks are a bit of an experiment that I’m dabbling with at the moment, instead of podcasts.
Any comments about the design, or advice about the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
Laser cutting materials such as wood veneers or acrylic sheets are often really expensive. Here are some money-saving laser cutting tips that will help to get the most out of your materials, and should also save time as well as money…
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Tip #1: Fill in the gaps!
The other day Kitronik kindly sent me some samples of wood and acrylic…
…so I decided to test the acrylic by making some pink sparkly unicorns (obvs).
I found the designs on Vectorstock.com then downloaded them and laid them out ready to cut:
BUT I didn’t cut them out immediately. I knew there was a way I could get even more value out of that one small square of acrylic.
When doing any cutting job that involves irregular shapes, there will always be spaces in between the objects. So once you’ve cut out the main objects, what do you do with the acrylic/wood/card/paper/etc. sheet that is left behind? There are three main options:
Option 1: Throw it away (or send it for recycling, if it’s the right type of material).
The main advantage is that you get a tidier workspace.
But my reaction to this option is:
Noooooooooo!
Because there is still enough of the remaining wood/acrylic/whatever to cut other objects from. So you could save yourself some money by using those scraps of material.
Option 2: Keep it (because you don’t want to waste material that you could still cut from).
In the example image above, there are quite a few gaps between the unicorns. So there is enough acrylic sheet left over that could be used to cut other small objects. Theoretically then, the advantage of this option is that you don’t have to cut the small items from a new sheet of acrylic – you can just use the gaps in the leftover piece of material instead.
This is what I used to do. Keep the leftover materials for later. But my answer to this now is also:
Noooooooooo!
No matter how organised you are, it is highly unlikely that you will ever go back and use those little spaces in the leftover wood or acrylic.
Because whatever shape you cut out next will need to fit onto a very weird shape of material. You might know that you want to cut out a circle that has a diameter of 20mm, but until you open the old cutting file for the previous job (e.g. sparkly pink acrylic unicorns), you’ll have no idea what the dimensions are of the leftover wood/acrylic from that previous job.
In the image below, the red circle does fit on the leftover sheet because it has a diameter of 20mm. But if it had a diameter of 30mm then it wouldn’t have fit:
…and the only way to find that out is to open the original cutting file (or find the piece of leftover material itself) and measure the gaps. This also assumes that you keep all of your cutting files, and that you can match them up to the exact piece of leftover material that is stored in some ‘leftover purgatory’ pile in your workshop somewhere like this:
scrap graveyard
So let’s just face it – it is almost certain that you will never use that piece of material again, once you’ve finished your initial cutting job. It’s always easier just to start from a fresh new piece of cutting material, because you know exactly how big that piece is, and you don’t have to worry about fitting your new piece around some oddly-shaped object that has already been cut out of the sheet.
It reminds me of when my husband was helping his mother to clear out her attic. He swore that he had found a box up there labelled “pieces of string too short to save”.
It may also be a false economy to hunt down the piece of scrap to cut the new object from. Finding the correct computer file and/or piece of physical scrap material might take several minutes, whereas cutting from a fresh sheet of material will be much quicker.
However, you may still hate waste (of both resources and time) and want to make the most of your material. In this case there is still a third option available. This is what I tend to do nowadays instead of the two options above:
Option 3: Fill in the gaps
This is a good compromise. It lets you cut your ‘main’ objects (unicorns, in this case), but also make something useful with the leftover material.
I suggest keeping a separate file of ‘gap-filling objects’, ready for you to copy and paste into your other projects. Heart shapes always come in handy for crafters. Letters and numbers are also very popular.
The screenshot below shows the solution in action.
First I inserted the outlines of the unicorns, and experimented with fitting as many of them onto the little square of material as I could.
Then I copied and pasted the letter “M” and some hearts into the document, to fill in the gaps.
Finally I inserted some tiny circles (bottom right-ish). The sparkly acrylic was a completely new material that I was testing, and so I needed to cut out a few small shapes first in order to find the correct speed and power settings for the laser cutter.
unicorn sampler with extra shapes for economy
As a result, from one little square of acrylic that was less than 10cm x 10cm, I managed to cut out:
3 sparkly pink unicorns
8 sparkly pink hearts
1 sparkly pink letter
The result was that (1) the new material was thoroughly tested, (2) I didn’t have to store a piece of nearly-useless acrylic sheet in my superShed, and (3) I ended up with a few bonus items that could possibly be sold or given away later, and (4) even if I ended up discarding the bonus shapes later on, I wouldn’t feel too guilty because they were basically cut from scrap material in the first place.
Additional tip:
Don’t spend too long worrying about what the ‘filler’ shapes should be. Remember that the point is to turn the laserable material into something more useful (or better still, more sell-able), than the material which would have just gone to waste otherwise.
Conclusion
This is a really fast and efficient way to get the most value out of your laser cutting materials. It solves the problems of waste and guilt, and saves time as well as money. If you are running (or considering running) a laser cutting business then it’s definitely worth trying this option.
I hope you found this article useful. If you do have any questions or comments (or more money-saving laser cutting tips) then please do get in touch.
(Free downloadable laser-cutting resource file of a Christmas tree bauble shape that can be personalised by etching it with a name, date, image, etc.)
Quick! Christmas is coming! (*or not, if you’re reading this in February.) The whole world is trying to cash in on it join in with the festivities. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just relax for a moment and create a quick and easy laser-cut Christmas tree decoration (or room/door/window decoration, if you make it bigger) without having to put any time or effort into designing one for yourself? Well, that’s what this free downloadable SVG file is for. Download it, open it in your graphics package, insert a name, then cut it from your preferred wood or acrylic. Hey presto – you’ve got a quick Christmas tree decoration. You’re welcome 🙂
It’s very quick and easy to cut from sheet of wood (e.g. 3mm laser-grade plywood), and makes a great (fast!) gift.
The downloadable file is a PDF file, but if you prefer a different format then I have also posted the design on Vectorstock.com as a free-for-personal-use file in various different formats.
I hope you found this resource useful. If you can think of any more tutorials or designs that you’d like to see in future then please let me know. You can use the comments section or the ‘Contact Us’ page, or interact via the social media buttons.
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Fish Papercut K103
This week’s design is number 103 in the book.
This one was really tricky to cut. It’s got really thin lines and details. It looks like a cross between a fish and a plant, in some places. The fins and gills and tail look like leaves. The combination of flowing Art Nouveau-type lines and flexible fish forms is right up my street!
Closer up:
I was using a fairly blunt blade and felt like I was carving this piece rather than cutting it, but fortunately I didn’t accidentally cut through any of the lines.
Actually, I like this one so much that I might have to use it in a project.
Any comments about the design, or advice about the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
I don’t really know how to describe the design that this papercut is based on, so I’ve just gone with “Bubble Design” because it sort of looks like bubbles at either side of the image.
(Some of the links below are affiliate links to Amazon. If you’d like to find out what that means then please check out my policies page.)
Bubble Design Papercut K128
This week’s design is number 128 in the book. It looks a bit like bubbles (or maybe grapes and a leaf?), that for some reason are placed on a Mobius strip.
Without my reading glasses on I’m fairly happy with the way I cut it out…
Closer up:
…but when you get close up it does seem a bit lumpy in places. Still, I like the flowing lines in it overall, and the natural/’organic’ feel to it.
As with many of these ‘decorative ornaments’, I’m not sure about when I might wish to use this particular design. But it was a nice quick cut to make, so was fun to knock another one off the list even if I don’t end up using it for anything in particular.
I cut this one while (half-)watching Stand up to Cancer: Sink or Swim on Channel 4. Wow. Part of me thinks, “What an amazing thing they’re doing! Trying to overcome their fears and self-imposed obstacles, and to go from being non-swimmers to swimming the English Channel.”
The other part of me thinks “I hope I don’t do what many of them seem to be doing; letting their subconscious fears convince their conscious minds that they physically can’t do something.” (Which is a nice way of saying, “What whiney little princesses! I’m surprised they’ve ever achieved anything at all.”) But then I realise that that’s a bit rich, coming from someone who spends a couple of hours a week practising cutting things out of paper instead of doing useful stuff…)
Anyhoo, I’m looking forward to the final episode next week, when we find out whether they managed to swim the channel. (My guess is yes. Otherwise there’s not much point to them showing it on the telly, is there?)
Going back to me wondering what the point is of continuing with this papercutting project, I think the answer is that it’s just really relaxing. Some people play computer games to relax, some people watch TV, some like to use adult colouring books. At least with my relaxing hobby I’m:
learning how to adapt all sorts of different designs so that they can be cut from paper.
looking at the designs and wondering if/how they can be incorporated into other projects and designs.
improving my papercutting skills, so that one day I’ll be able to make some lovely artworks of my own.
building up a sketchbook full of the papercuts, so I’ve got a record of what I’ve done.
Any comments about the design, or thoughts about whether it’s a complete wast of time or not? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
This Japanese bird papercut is from an ongoing papercutting project that I’ve been doing. Basically I’m trying to hand-cut my way through all of the designs in Dover Books’ “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book. (The designs are all available as vector files, so I could theoretically just cut them all out with my laser cutter…but where is the challenge in that?)
(Some of the links below are affiliate links to Amazon. If you’d like to find out what that means then please check out my policies page.)
Japanese Bird Papercut K716
This week’s design is number 716 in the book.
I really like this design, and for once I’m happy with the way I cut it, too. (Well, except for the fact that the edges of the white paper have been cut on a bit of a wonk, but I can fix that later.)
Closer up:
Yep, even close up I’m happy with it! I was using a new blade and for some reason I was feeling particularly patient.
This design looks Japanese – is it a crane bird? I really like the little hearts and peacock-y teardrop shapes that form the feathers.
I’m not sure about the circumstances under which I might wish to use a crane bird design, but it was really satisfying to cut, even if I never incorporate this design into any other projects.
I cut it while (half-)watching Cake Walk on Amazon Prime. I do like cake shows but I haven’t made my mind up about this one, yet.
Here is another link to the book itself, just in case you wanted to buy it and do your own papercutting:
Any comments about the design, or advice about the cutting? You can chip in via the comments page, or Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.
Rob and I are on holiday in the UK at the moment, and I’m recharging my ‘creative batteries’ by going to lots of museums and lovely English towns and castles.
The other day we went to the town of Nantwich, and none of the shops or museums that we visited seemed to sell fridge magnets. There is surely a gap in the market for them, because I actually know quite a few people who collect fridge magnets.
Here are a couple of examples below of buildings that I think would look nice as fridge magnets:
Heck, you could even make your own mix-and-match village of cute little black and white buildings on your fridge or freezer if only you had a few of these buildings cut out as fridge magnets.
I am now on a mission to create some magnets for myself, to see if they come out as well as I imagine they will…
Art Nouveau Rose Papercut K113 from Decorative Vector Ornaments Book
Technically I guess this is papercut 102 of the (now-extended) papercutting project, but I’m starting a new numbering convention because I’d cut other pieces from this book in the past and so actually there are already lots more than 102 in total. So now I’m starting to refer to them by their numbers in the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book. (It’s not enough to just call the designs things like “Art Nouveau Rose Papercut”, because there are a lot of Art Nouveau-style designs in the book!)
This one is really cute:
Closer up:
I was really concentrating hard on this one, and also using a new blade, and I think it really shows. Most of the lines are really really crisp and clean, and there are some quite fine lines in there as well.
The design is one of my favourites, actually. I might incorporate it into the next card that I develop.
There are still hundreds of designs left in the book that I haven’t adapted or cut, yet! And even if I do one papercut per week then that means that if I’ve got 500 designs left to adapt/cut, then I’ll be doing this for another 10 years. Wow. I hope my eyesight stays good enough to manage it! For the first time this year I have had to start wearing reading glasses for close-up work.
Oh well, I’m still enjoying myself. And I really do like today’s design.
I’ve been learning how to make automata and mechanical toys so far this year, and so this week I downloaded a seagull automaton kit from Rob Ives’ website.
