Boy…you’re good at this, Erin! I love everything you just said, here. 
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Just to let you know…I’ve been here for the duration and am at the same level as you are…so no matter what, there will be others learning right along with you.
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Just remember:
{F} First
{A} Attempt
{I} In
{L} Learning
Look through Pinterest - start looking at items while at stores and out and about - what could you do with/to that? It’s amazing how much more creative your mind willl become (and even more so once you get your laser). It also depends upon why you purchased the laser, but you will undoubtably find more uses that you originally thought. !!!
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That’s very encouraging! Thank you! 
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Fabulous! We should all have patterns like this for various types of materials. Far less wasteful and leads to quicker and better decisions. Although just eyeballing it now and then is good practice and a good way of measuring how well your intuition is informing you.
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Great advice! Maybe we should have a hilarious Glowforge fail thread at some point. 
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And you know, I think the astonishing experts aren’t expecting beginners to be producing on their level. They get that it’s a process for everyone. It was for them, too.
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Wow, thanks for that!
Great idea, keep this in your head for when most of us are cutting.
One of my favorite hardware hacker sites does this and it is both hilarious and super educational. I think we learn more from mistakes than success. It is important to develop an eye for “just what went wrong here and what do I need to do to fix it next time.”
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Also important that in many cases they were experts before having a laser. For instance @morganstanfield will blow us all away with her leatherwork with the glowforge. In addition @morganstanfield will blow us away with leatherwork without a Glowforge.
Also I subscribe to multiple YouTube channels of makers and watch how they solve problem with3D printing, lasers, etc. while watching their perfect solutions, the good guys also describe their failures, and how they overcame them. I’m rarely doing exactly what they are, but I can map a solution onto my problem. I do the same thing when programming, by getting solutions to nearby problems, I can often solve mine in creative ways.
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This right there is probably the best skill that the clever but not gifted (myself and several others here) can develop.
I call it Darwinian design and programming because I’ve started with something but after enough changes in my head that chicken just doesn’t look like the dinosaur that we started with. 
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I agree bringing attention to mistakes is an excellent service to anyone attempting to achieve a product from a particular process or machine. Pointing out what to avoid doing is solid gold for the student.
As anyone who has embarked on a learning journey will attest, failure is almost a requisite of success.
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I’m learning dye sublimation printing right now. One of the YouTube channels I watch always talks about how everyone should have a Wall of Shame where you display all your mistakes as reminders of the lessons learned from them. That will work equally well with a laser engraver.
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Wow, thanks!
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That’s a good idea, though it sounds a little depressing to have to look at those every day.
In the same spirit, though, when I’m trying out a new technique (such as adhering fabric to leather, using ink on leather, or coating paper with resin) I keep a binder of all the combinations I try. I make about 1.5" x 1.5" samples of each combination (say one for each of ten different brands of black ink on the same kind of leather, using both a pointed pen and flat-nib pen, with maybe a waterproofness test on one corner). Then I make up a simple chart page for all the samples, with labels that tell what I used on each sample, and notes about the effect of each result. Then I glue the sample into a square on the chart. When I go back to use that technique again, I never have to rely on memory for what material or technique worked in what way.
This was invaluable when I was learning how to use my robocutter on various materials, because there are four variables (speed, pressure, blade angle, and offset) that make can each make a huge difference for each material when tweaked.
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Wow, very detailed and organized! I try to capture many of those details when trying new types of materials on my vinyl printer/cutter and now on the dye sub printer but I’m not that organized about it.
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I have something sort of like that. As a hobbyist Woodworker, I work with many dangerous tools and am always trying to doublecheck EVERYTHING before cutting. Even still, there are slip-ups.
I had a piece of 1/4" plywood that was 12 inches deep and the full 8 feet wide that I was cutting into 12"x12" squares. This is a HUGE no-no on the tablesaw (DEFINITELY not supposed cut something that is wider than it is deep). I took it one step further and was only holding the piece on the outside of the blade (no support on the piece between the blade and the fence). When I got to the end of the cut, there was nothing to hold it still, so the blade bit the wood, and flung it across the room and it punctured another piece of 1/4" plywood.
I still have that punctured piece, and it’s hanging up as a reminder to not do that stupid thing again (To be fair, it was a LOT of stupid at one time, I’m lucky things didn’t go more poorly for me). That is the start of my wall of shame.
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My brother forgot to remove the chuck key from a drill press once. Fortunately, he was working late and the rest of the crew had left. The key flew across the shop, through a wall, across the next shop, and stuck in the wall at the other end. My dad, at a time he had 40+ years DIY/hobby experience using a table saw, had one buck up on him resulting in many, many stitches in his forearm. Memories of those events still play through my mind very vividly when I’m working with my drill press and table saw even though I wasn’t there for either event. Do whatever it takes to learn from your mistakes (or anyone else’s).
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stuff of my DIY nightmares
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