Happy June! We’re hard at work fulfilling orders and sending Glowforge units to their new homes all across the globe. The side effect of this is that we’re seeing so many amazing projects coming through we can hardly keep up with them. It’s a really exciting time.
Here’s some of what’s been going on:
- We created a tattoo parlour for devices at Maker Faire
- We’re launching a new monthly payment plan
- We’ve improved your photo engraves by improving Proofgrade™ defaults and publishing some tips for perfect prints
- You can now rent time on a Glowforge (or stock up on Proofgrade materials) at JOANN Fabric and Craft in Columbus, OH
- We’ve released an update to the Glowforge iOS app based on your feedback
- We’re continuing to work through barriers for international shipping and air filter production
- We’re extending our Founder’s Discount for international customers
- Our support team is growing (and so is the rest of the company)
Maker Faire Bay Area
Thanks to all of you who stopped by our booth at Maker Faire Bay Area. We love getting an opportunity to chat in person!
As usual, we had a packed line all weekend. (And a lot of happy faces at the end of it!) We gave people a chance to see their drawings come to life with their own personalized puzzle, pendant, luggage tag, or spinner. For a lot of them, it was the first time they had ever made anything with a laser - so it was really special to see our guests surprise themselves with their own creativity. (If you can remember the feeling the first time you used your Glowforge - you know what I’m talking about.)
As you can see - busy. In fact, one woman in line came up to one of our employees and asked, “Do you want to know how long we had to wait?” She presented her phone with the timer running. “One hour and 17 minutes!” Then she smiled, looked at what she’d made with her kids, and said, “It was worth every minute. This is just awesome!”
That’s why we love Maker Faire, folks.
Alongside our usual printing demos, we introduced a new area of our booth called the “(Device) Tattoo Parlour” - giving people a chance to print on their phones and laptops instead of hardwoods.
We were delighted to tattoo a huge range of phones, laptops, and so forth - keeping our “tattoo artists” busy all day.
Monthly payment plan
We’ve heard you tell us that you wish it could be easier to purchase a Glowforge, and that we should offer a payment plan. We’re happy to share that we’re finally able to offer new buyers an option for just that. Now, instead of having to pay everything up front, owners can make monthly payments. That means they can fund their Glowforge each month by selling their work! To find out if a new purchase will qualify for monthly payments, head to Choose Your Glowforge.
I know some of you wish we’d offered monthly payments when you purchased - I wish we could have had those available too. Thank you for the wonderful suggestion that’s going to help many people experience Glowforge ownership.
Here’s where you benefit, though: if your friends order with monthly payments, they’re still eligible for the referral program, so be sure to keep sharing your referral code! It’s a discount for them, and up to $500 cash or $600 of credit for you - that means $600 towards materials, designs, or even another Glowforge.
Photo engraving made easier
We’ve seen some exquisite photo engravings, so we decided to make them even easier. For those who’ve already experimented with photo engraving, you may already know that adjusting a photo for engraving is different than adjusting it for printing. To help, we’ve created instructions to prepare photos for beautiful prints on Adobe Photoshop (most popular) and Gimp (free).
We’ve also updated the Draft photo and HD photo settings for Medium Hardwood and Plywood in Basswood and Maple (we find these work the very best for photos). You should notice sharper engraves with better detail, with the added bonus of faster printing.
Finally, you’ll see that the default engrave setting for bitmap images like JPG and PNGs will now show up as “Draft Photo” instead of “SD Graphic”. We’re always looking for ways to make sure you’re set up for success, and we’ve found that this particular setting is a better default. We’d recommend switching to one of the Graphic settings (Draft Graphic, SD Graphic or HD Graphic) for photos that have solid colors, like logos.
Proofgrade materials at JOANN in Columbus
If you’re in the Columbus, OH area, you can now head to the brand new JOANN Fabric and Craft location in the Polaris Town Center to stock up on our materials. And as part of their new Creator’s Studio, shoppers can get not only materials but also time on the store’s Glowforge unit. We love seeing more people have the chance to experience how easy it is to print something wonderful on a Glowforge!
Glowforge iOS app (beta), and even more laser focus
Thanks to your feedback, our Glowforge iOS app continues to get better. One of the updates we’ve been working on is better handling your design changes. You can now make changes from the web interface, and when you use the app, those changes will be saved and ready to go. Note the changes you make in the app are not yet saved back.
If you’re using manual settings on iOS, the “Full Power” option is now supported, and we’ve increased your ability to zoom in even further into the workspace. This should allow you to more easily adjust your design and shift your components around for the perfect print.
Because the iOS app is still in beta, we’re always looking for suggestions on how to improve. Head to this forum thread to keep sharing any feedback or problems you encounter.
We’re also constantly working to make your Glowforge more precise and reliable. In line with that, we’ve rolled out a small improvement that will make our autofocus process more accurate. Most owners won’t notice, but more accurate focus will mean that some prints that might have otherwise failed to cut through will now succeed.
For a complete list of how your Glowforge has gotten even better, visit our Latest Improvements page - we post all of our major changes there.
Air Filter & remaining international shipments
The team continues to work through the air filter production process and prepare Glowforge units for shipments to our remaining international locations. We’ve shipped to most customers’ countries, but some still remain. We hate letting you down on this, and understand how frustrating this is.
Unfortunately, we’ve uncovered additional schedule challenges for both air filter & international shipping. We don’t have updated ship dates yet, but will by next week. At that time, they’ll be updated at Glowforge - the 3D laser printer, where we keep the most up-to-date shipping forecast information we have available. Of course, should you decide you can’t wait any further, you can email support@glowforge.com to get a refund (on either your air filter or on your international Glowforge delivery).
Extended Founder’s Discount for international customers
Some of our earliest customers have Founder status and receive a discount on Proofgrade materials as a result. That discount is scheduled to expire at the end of 2018.
Based on your requests, we’ve decided to extend it for international customers because they aren’t able to access the Proofgrade store yet. We’ll extend the Founders’ Discount for international Founders by 6 months from the international Proofgrade launch date.
Our support team is growing (and so is the rest of the company)
We’ve heard you say that you want faster, better responses to your support questions. We want that, too! We’re excited to share that the Customer Success team has added several amazing new members who are completing their training now, and they’ll be ready to help answer all your laser questions soon.
We also just released an updated Careers page, so you can get a peek at what’s happening behind the scenes and see our current open roles. We’re growing fast and looking for talent! Every time we hire someone terrific, Glowforge gets better.
Do you or someone you know want to work with cool lasers and the best customers ever? Take a look, and please tell them about us.
Glowforge in space!
Last but not least, here is a cool one to share - we thought some of you would be interested in knowing just how far a Glowforge print has travelled.
A friend of the company came by and was so excited about Glowforge that they arranged to include their project on a rocket that went 60 miles into space - and then brought it back to us. We love seeing what you’ve made and where it goes… anywhere from Etsy to orbit. Just tag us with #glowforge on your posts so we can check it out!
Thank you so much for sticking with us this far (both with Glowforge and with this update). Comments, discussion, and conversation can be found here.
–dan