A little contest from Averly at Glowforge

Hi there! I’m Averly and I’m on the marketing team here at Glowforge.

I see so many folks on the forum who share amazing prints, so I got permission to run a little contest to give away a $50 Glowforge gift certificate!

All you have to do is post about your favorite gift you’ve made with your Glowforge in the thread below. The most liked post by 2/28 wins!

I’m not allowed to win, but I want to share my favorite gift I’ve given, too!

What’s your favorite dinosaur?

A few years ago, my then 4-year-old niece, Tori, was obsessed with dinosaurs. I was floored when she named off all of the different types when she showed me her little figurines over video chat. Yep, video chat. She lives a plane ride away, and keeping a kid’s attention on the phone is hard but luckily, she was in her “show and tell” phase.

Stegosaurus… Velociraptor… and our favorite, Brontosaurus! :slight_smile:

Fast forward to the night before my flight out to attend her birthday party. I had put off buying a present because nothing seemed cool enough to be gifted from Tori’s “cool-out-of-state” aunt. But I remembered the plastic container she was pulling her dinosaur toys out of-–they needed a home.

I looked up dollhouse designs online and landed on a simple one that I could customize. After all, I wanted to print something special that she would appreciate even as she gets older, while also commemorating her key interest at the time– dinosaurs!

I printed all of the parts and kept it flat to pack in my suitcase, which was perfect because I like to travel light.

We built the custom Dino-House together on the morning of the big day and she took no time introducing her dino friends to their new home!

I can’t wait to see your best gifts - stories and/or photos welcome!

-Averly

Edit: This contest is now closed but because y’all loved this so much, I’m going to get to this again for you. Keep an eye out! :slight_smile:

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Awesome idea to make a flat pack dollhouse!

I think my favorite of my projects has been the faux letterpress cards. Here’s the first one I did:

I hope that qualifies as a gift. I did give away 40 of them!

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One of my first projects was a birthday gift that was fun to create and even more fun to deliver! Wood and acrylic with battery operated lighting.

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Wowww this is gorgeous!

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I made my own version of our homes away from home set for my Mother, she loved it. It’s all of our family members houses and my fathers business. I tried to make them as close to the real thing as possible.
The original version/file came from another Glowforge member Nick who provided it in the Glowforge at home Facebook group ( Glowforge At Home | Facebook ), the original is even cooler with 3d base, I just wanted mine to be made with one sheet of material only so I made some edits.





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My favorite so far is this engraved pencil cup that I made for my daughter as a going-to-college gift. Each panel has a different phrase translated into Galifreyan which is translated on the inside.


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Sorry about the rotated photos. I’m not sure how to fix it.

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A gift for a Disney fanatic, an edge lit Disney polyhedral.

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I think my favorite gift was the custom Settlers of Catan board I made for friends we play with!






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My favourite item ive made on my glowforge is my kids name puzzles ! Love the colours and wood colour options by far my best seller and enjoy making them so much!




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So many beautiful creations from the community, this thread is going to be amazing by the time we’re done! I suppose I’ll throw my name in the hat…

I think I’m going to have to say my personal favorite (of the gifts I’ve made for someone else, that is) is my Star Trek “chest” with magnetic isolinear chip key/lock, partly because of the coloring, but also the mechanics of the internal locking mechanism I designed and it actually worked (push chip in to open, pull chip out to lock it).



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for me, it was a christmas gift this past christmas. i didn’t design it, i purchased the files (made some small edits). one of the most involved things i’ve done on the glowforge. Harry Potter Monopoly.

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I think this is mine;

And, while I’m on here I’m throwing out a huge mass LIKE to all of you who have posted your choices…I’m not going to click my way through and like all of them individually because I’m being lazy.

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What a nice little contest!

I made two hare-head sculptures that sit on stands made of a large nail set in layers of acrylic. (The heads can spin and be lifted off the nail.) One I donated to a dog club charity auction, and the other I gifted to a dear friend who was retiring from the club.


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Quite a few gifts began on my Basic over the past 5 years, but I think my all-time favorite is this Lichterbaum (lighted tree in German) I made for my nephew and his fiancé in 2020.

This design is based on a German jigsaw pattern (purchased and licensed!) that I modified to be printable on my GF Basic (this project made me wish I had purchased the Pro!).

I forgot to take a picture, but I also cut a silhouette template out of cheap BB and used it with a hotwire cutter to carve custom-fit packing from EPS foam sheets. Shipped cross-country with zero damage. Whew!

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This has always been one of my favorite projects. It’s just gorgeous.

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Great idea for a showcase thread Averly! So many fine crafts on display here.

Over the years there have been a great many gifts so it’s difficult to choose, but a favorite of mine exhibits a wonderful capability of the glowforge - 3D engraving. That extra dimension opens the door to an intoxicating, creative rabbit hole!

It should actually be lying around in a box somewhere there in the Seattle office, along with all of the others from that collaborative effort - a gift from us to the company.

Pictured here after cleaning and before staining, with half of the piece I cut it from.
I love this tool.

There are many here more deserving of the certificate, so I respectfully remove myself from consideration.

Again, great idea, easy to see why you are on the marketing team!

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My favorite gift is the paper cut shadowbox I made for my dad for Father’s Day. It’s based on a photo of him my brother took years ago.

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Yeah, the depth in that is wonderful!

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