Ditto. Natural evolution. The ball is rolling.
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Yes! Love this idea.
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Last night I was watching the news hour and heard this quotation for the first time.
āVision without execution is hallucination.ā - Thomas Edison
Okay, maybe lots of folks in this forum have heard this, but I hadnāt, so I thought Iād share in case others hadnāt either. 
For today, Iād tweak it a bit, however. I think more along these lines, āSound vision without execution is lost opportunity.ā The term hallucination is catchy, but Iām not sure it meant the same thing in the late 1800s to early 1900s as it does today.
Um, Iām thinking, just do it. 
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Not often I encounter a modified quote that says it better than the original! 
Contemporary context from my fellow Missourian:
Itās like a cloud which resembles a horse after some one has pointed out the resemblance. You perceive it, then, though I have often seen a cloud that didnāt. Clouds often have nothing more than a brother-in-law resemblance. I wouldnāt say this to everybody, but I believe it to be true, nevertheless. For I myself have seen clouds which looked like a brother-in-law, whereas I knew very well they didnāt. Nearly all such are hallucinations, in my opinion.
- No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger
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Glowbuddies?
Or āGlowkitsā or āForge aheadsā
Donāt forget āfill-in-the-blankā kits: monogram designs where you specify the letters, cute childrenās name plates where you specify the name, etc.
The next step would be an API to add to the web site to create items (ala shapeways or thingiverse) which the user then cuts at home.
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I think this is a great idea, but along with offering kits, Iād throw in something else - a Glowforge monthly kit, similar to a loot crate. All of the materials, tools and instructions required to do something awesome with your new laser, maybe a newsletter with laser news in there too.
Itād be a great source of recurring revenue, a great value-add for the materials, and itād keep the community of Glowforge owners engaged and using their laser cutter.
Plus, itād be a really nice way to help awesome laser-craft designers get recognition and potentially share some of the proceeds of the monthly kit sales, which really ties into the whole āYou can start a business with your Glowforge!ā idea
I know Iād love to get a box full of stuff to build a neat project every month, and Iād love to be able to share a kit I design with an awesome, supportive community even more!
Thatās my 2Ā¢ anyhow, I think the kits idea is great!
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Thatās a pretty sweet idea! I like it! Hopefully they will be able to run a compare against previous purchases to keep people from getting a second one, or just release a new design every month and ship that one out.
Thatās what I was thinking, new design every month, with the ability to buy previous designs if the materials are still available. That way Glowforge can showcase more amazing designers, and designers have the incentive to design new stuff with their laser cutter since they might be featured in next months kit.
Glowforge have a platform of creative people with enough semi-disposable income to buy a laser cutter, they could give talented designers the opportunity to share their work with those people and earn a little from their Glowforge too - thats something not a lot of companies have the ability or interest in doing
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This would also be great because it would get a lot of people working on the same design at onxe, which would make for some collaboration opportunity on the forums for modification ideas.
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And then we would start to see all the interesting mods people would make so theirs would be more functional or not like everyone elseās. Thatās where my interest begins to pique
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Totally, some subscribers will be happy to just make the kit every month and have a neat laser-cut project, but some will modify and remix it a little and be able to show off something that they made their own. Itād be super-cool to see all the variations of the same project made every month out of the same materials
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A worthy thread to necro.
I like the idea of the monthly kits. Those type of subscription services are pretty popular of late.
You can go one further with the idea though. Donāt just wait to see what people do to remix the kit. Instead, include everything needed in the kit to make a basic and nice project. This ALONE teaches people to go from 2D to 3D, or mix materials.
But then, also include instructions on how to modify the kit even further.
The modifications could require you to go shopping for some commonly available parts (like machinist screws or nuts/bolts), and this would cause people to find local suppliers that they may not have looked for before (have to make sure it is some pretty common stuff, or make it possible to order online, but encourage that they do not).
Or the modifications could require that you re-design the cut files. Then they serve as tutorials/immersions to expose people to software and design.
I am sure a significant population would just do the originally intended craft. But some would get nudged into developing further in their own skill and capability.
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Dia de Muertos is an appropriate day for necroing old posts.
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nice facepaint-outfit color matching!
ooh, is that your kokopeli statue in the background?
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Yup! The Kokos are a running theme inside and outside our house. I already have some drafted up for laser cutting!
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Add my voice to those who like the idea of projects kits that include the material required. But given how often I see people posting to ask what tools they should have handy to do projects on the Glowforge, I think there should be an option to add to the kit any tools required to make the project.
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