Professionally: I’m an Accountant in a Corporate Firm (I move invisible money around all day) I can’t get “creative” with numbers because it can get me in big trouble. I also own a Cake Studio & Tea Salon with 2 other business partners. I find creating beautiful edible work of art really rewarding.
Personally: I’m married to an Electrical Engineer whom I affectionately call Captain Awesome. (Funny it was me who had to convince him to buy a GlowForge) I enjoy baking, cooking, video games, traveling and tinkering (Silhouette Cameo, Ultimaker 2, Cricut). Captain Awesome and I have 2 beautiful fur-babies (Ragdoll Kitties) Starbucks and Picasso.
Seems I am part of the ‘demographic shift’ group, here. Professionally now retired, I was a banker. Not much else to say about that.
Personally, I enjoy taking videos, editing, and producing them using my iMac. Long been a lover of everything new tech. My home is very, very small, but I am completely cleaning out and revamping my small 8x8 back room to accommodate the Glowforge. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! I have been married for 46 years to my musician husband, and have 3 children and 6 grandchildren. My son-in-law is a mechanical engineer, so is pretty excited about me getting a Glowforge, too. I will be looking forward to seeing what my four young grandsons will think up for using it, as well, as they live but 10 min. away. My two granddaughters live too far to be able to enjoy it, though. I’ve had a long-standing love of lighting and will be very excited to try some things along that line. I live in a very small community and I am thinking that perhaps someday I might be able to offer some laser services locally. We are but 30 min. from a larger city, but a local resource might be welcome. There is no service like that here now. Time will tell.
As others have stated, it’s surprising how few of those responding are in the visual arts.
My self, professionally I’m currently a Respiratory therapist. Not much use for a GF in that line of work.
In my past, I started cooking in a restaurant at 14, was a home builder a furniture builder, punch press operator, and Quality inspector to name a few.
Personally, married for 25 yrs. To many hobbies to list but woodworking, photography and home Brewing are the current predominant ones. The GF is just another toy for me but I’ve got an artist daughter who will utilize it to help me justify the investment.
Professionally: I am an Electrical Engineer at a CNC manufacture for 5 years; where I travel and do a lot of field service. It has allowed me to become familiar with manufacturing process many different companies employ as well as developing unique solutions for their needs.
Personally: I am a “newlywed” at 5 months with a stay at home wife. Typically our free time is spent playing board/video games or we work on our hobbies. Primarily, for me, that is 3D printing or electronics, but has also included woodworking in the past. We also have a fur baby beagle/corgi mix that requires a lot of attention.
Just like @cdw my wife was quite interested in getting a GF once she saw it. And now that I have a CNC build on the way the GF should be a great addition to that. My hopes are that we can start our own crafting business.
Professionally: I am a Mechanical Engineer. In my career, I’ve worked on a range of different things; Submarines, Ion Implanters, Sonar/Ultrasound Transducers, Micro-Electronics. I’ve worked at big companies and small. Currently, I’m at Draper Labs in Cambridge, Mass.
Personally: I’m married to a Laboratory Automation Engineer who really enjoys crafts and started a laser pinterest page the second I put the order in. I have a cat name Tesla. I enjoy playing video games (really looking forward to Fallout 4!!) and board games (can’t wait to cut a Catan Board!). I enjoying making things and have a bunch of experience in traditional machine shops. I have a 3d printer (Ultimaker) and I’m really looking forward to expanding my personal maker space!!
@henryhbk I’m glad to see someone else from the area posting! There aren’t that many people on the map in Massachusetts.
Professionally: graduated with a BS in architecture from the University of Virginia in May 2014. Since then I’ve been working at a traditional office setting architecture firm in the DC area, saving up money to go back to grad school- can’t decide between going back for architecture with an emphasis on digital fabrication or skipping over into industrial design!
Personally: I’m so bored with my job. I sit at a desk all day drawing lines on a computer screen- I want to be out working with REAL materials!! I love all things digi-fab, and though I have no solid experience in it, I love scripting and programming and electronics. Can’t wait to start cutting things up with my GF!
I started out doing design work, but doing design for other people is pretty soul crushing, and doesnt pay enough. Its hard to meet a guideline when someone doesnt know how to explain it. Thats why most people move into something a little more rigid, like software dev, or other areas of IT.
I like saving my creative juices for my own work tbh.
I run Physics labs at the University of Idaho. Our faculty are fixated on “Sage on the Stage” teaching methods, so sap a lot of the joy out of physics. So I am trying to change how the labs work to maintain the overarching image of physics and remind students that this stuff is awesome.
Most of the labs are intro level work, so there is little room for wonder and awe. But I also have exclusive control over the Junior/Senior level lab, and have essentially turned it into a Maker culture experience. We built our own laser cutter last year, and it has some limitations and concerns, so picking up a real cutter is a nice fall-back option.
Outside of my job, I mostly just entertain/raise my 6 and 2 year old sons. I have tried to get involved in the community and to find social hobbies, but so far haven’t managed to get any to stick. I am trying to start up a makerspace in the area, since that will be a hobby and social endeavor which can also amuse the kids.
Professionally: Enterprise, Mobile & Cloud consultant/developer… I write code to solve other peoples problems.
Personally: Father, Husband, Practitioner of Historical Western Martial Arts (Specifically early 16th century Italian and Spanish Fencing), Late 16th century and early 17th century tailoring, And [Insert other random that sounds interesting project]
Wife makes custom wood Jewelry using our current laser and sells the work on Etsy (over 100 orders with no advertising so not to shabby).
@joe I suspect that this is because of lack of posting, not that lots of people in MA haven’t bought… Not like we are short on gadget loving nerds here (of which I proudly am one!)…
A cool thought is when you do the glassblowing with the colored glass inside of the clear glass type object (I’ve seen a lot of paperweights and vases like this), can you laser on the color glass inside? I realize refraction is going to make this hard, but that would be pretty cool to have engraving on an object inside the glass!
Other categories have pretty much concluded that the Glowforge wavelength will not penetrate glass.
Custom Laser — Custom CO2 laser tube operating at 10,600 nm averages 40W for Basic Model and 45W for Pro Model
from the tech specs page for the Glowforge in case you want to look it up.
And to answer the question of the day:
I enjoy solving problems. I basically contract myself out doing that mostly with software so for the time being it feels like retirement. When it stops I’ll probably look for new challenges.
Professionally: Watchmaker (repair only) for a major Swiss brand in Melbourne (Australia), 15 years behind the tweezers…
Personally: Watchmaker (manufacture) I’ve been working on my personal watch design for at least 12 years, taught myself most of the processes required to do so and have made 4 prototypes so far, though the most recent one appears to be the final (hooray!)
(Google Ashtonwatch if you’re curious)
My time at home is split between my wife (jeweller who pushed us into getting the GF), my watch design, and archery, which we both do relatively competitively.
I also dabble with RC planes, helicopters and boats, also full size light sport type aircraft, though most of that is on hold till I can afford to put more time into it!
Professionally:
I’m the electrical engineer at Glowforge. I design all the super cool PCBs that you may see floating around the Glowforge - lots of camera interfaces, high-speed processor design, and other neat behind-the-scenes stuff
Before Glowforge, I worked in the aerospace industry designing software-defined radios and high voltage mass spectrometer electronics.
Personally:
I work with a few art collectives to do print/installation art around Seattle. Right now I’m designing a tube amp in the style of a 1930s console radio that I’ll make on the Glowforge and curating/editing a zine for my collective’s upcoming show Erasure.
Professionally: Creative Director (graphics) as well as an accessory/product/apparel designer (freelance/contract)… past jobs include professional skateboarder, founded and sold two different street-wear apparel companies, art director at a graphic/signage movie/commercial prop shop where I learned a lot about fabricating using laser’s, cnc equipment and had access to a full machine shop, head of design for accessories & products for Vans shoes where I traveled the world doing r&d of sampling and production protos… I really enjoy learning the process of manufacturing which helps me to be a better designer. Been called an "idea guy and a dreamer, so who knows what’s next.
Personally: Husband to great women, father to three furry children, avid surfer and outdoorsmen, love to create art and make stuff by experimenting with new and old processes and cooking…
Professionally: I’m currently a Technology Director at a digital media agency.
I spent 7.5 years at Disney working in software engineering, worked for a number of startups, and used to work in game design as well as 3D animation for film and television. I also work for the Stan Winston School of Character Arts helping share professional special effects techniques with artists around the world.
Personally: I spend my free time running the special effects company Vex FX, working on smaller projects (music videos, commercials, TV pilots, web series, shorts, etc) as well as working in the Halloween and Haunted Attraction industry. I’m very active in the maker community, and spend a good deal of time at a local hackerspace called CRASH Space.
My primary project right now is an animatronic “Skeksis” creature suit based on the character from Jim Henson’s movie “The Dark Crystal” which uses a lot of laser cut components.
Professionally and personally, I’m a full time dad with 2 full time jobs. I import and sell laser cutters and I laser cut things on those laser cutters.
I run Just Add Sharks where we sell laser cutters to makers, we’re super excited and can’t wait to get our glowforge because of sheer potential of the fancy camera features.
I draw and cut items for myself and commissions for others, It’s how I started in the business 4 years and I’ve been blogging the whole thing ever since as my hobby slowly became my job.
I’m pleased to see there will be other glow forge owners here across the pond
Professionally, I’ve worked mostly in IT. Software testing, network administrator, and software support. I did not finish a college degree, and most of what I’ve learned is self-taught.
Personally, my wife and I have 4 children and 2 grandchildren. I’m an amateur woodworker and am looking forward to customizing some of my products using the glowforge.
