I like all the suggestions above and really don’t have anything new to add to the list.
However, whenever given a choice, I choose eco-friendly options. This is one reason why bamboo is of particular interest to me.
Thanks!
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Me too!
Being a type of grass, the only thing I can think of that grows faster than bamboo is kelp, and maybe kudzu.
On a scale of 5 for wood hardness, bamboo is a 5, making it structurally attractive.
My having >30sf leftover from a kitchen floor install helps too!
I don’t know, but I expect there is less differential in hardness between seasonal growth like exists in regular wood grain - so I am interested to see how it will take stain, and how evenly it will engrave to a depth.
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Did you see the bamboo plywood on the inventables site? Looks interesting as option to standard plywood - only wish it was available locally.
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Hey,
Just surprise me! Happy to get these free samples to get me started. I’m sure I can find something fun to make out of any material.
Thanks again to the Glowforge team.
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I once had the dubious honor of being the first to grow giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, in captivity when I was 17. It grew at a rate of 1.5 - 2 feet per day.
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Hello @PIGHEADED,
Yes, I did see the bamboo plywood in the Inventables video @takitus posted. Wow, I had no idea so many materials existed…yowza!
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Yes, amazing growth rate.
I have read of bamboo doing 11 inches in 24 hours in optimal conditions.
The ocean, being the most stable environment on earth, and having every element on earth desolved in it probably couldn’t be equaled for offering the optimal environment.
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-
1/8" plywood
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1/4" plywood
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An assortment of plastics that you feel will best showcase the GF’s abilities.
Projects: TBD
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Thanks for asking!
- Plywood: 1/8" and 1/4" (and 1/2" if you get flip-over registration dialed in) in a variety of woods and pre-stained colors (including cherry, purple heart, baltic birch stained black etc.) plus, laser-safe stains and paints in a very wide variety of colors
- Very thin veneers in a variety of woods and pre-stained colors
- Acrylic in a very wide selection of colors
- Leather: Lots of weights, and several species, including kangaroo. Is there such a thing as kosher and halal leather? Plus, laser safe stains and dyes in a very wide variety of colors, and thread in a variety of colors (for stitching projects)
- Vegan leather substitute
- Mother of pearl
- Inkjet or laser-copy printable image-transfer material suitable for a variety of substrates (list includes fabric transfer stuff, waterslide decals, stickers, etc.)
- 1/8" Delrin (white, if that exists and if it won’t turn ugly when cut)
- Stencil and masking stocks that are suitable for various uses including sandblasting, acid etching, spray painting
- Rubber stamp rubber
- Small quantities of cermark, thermark, and/or something like moly spray
- Cork
- Foam in a variety of durometers and thicknesses
- Mother of pearl
- Wool felt in a variety of colors
Is there such a thing as laser-safe heat-sublimation ink? If there is, I WANT IT. 
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I would love to get 1/8" to get to learn how to make living hinges, because they look really cool. The two tone acrylic would be really nice to make some interesting signs and trinkets with.
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If there is such a thing as laser-safe glue and/or dry adhesive, I’d like to see that on the list.
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I’ve never played Catan, so I definitely want to try making a board. Also the bag: my brief-case broke and I haven’t found a suitable replacement, so I really want to customize one for my laptop size (huge) as well as organize all of the additional junk I usually have cluttered around it. Random materials, because my true desire is to figure out exactly WTH it is that I am going to do with so much awesomeness!
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I’m sensing you really want mother of pearl… 
Are you planning on doing inlays? I just did a Google search of some laser cut mother of pearl, and ooooh, shiny! Now I want to add it to my own list!
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Nacre or mother of pearl is a cool material to work. Tough and hard, takes a beautiful polish. The colors, more pronounced in abalone than clam shell come from the microstructure of the constituent platelets. Light refracts and constructively and destructively interferes to produce the observed colors, and changes depending on viewing angle. That characteristic makes it particularly suited to introduce sheen and changing colors into artwork as an accent.
Neat little piece of physics that is responsible for the iridescent colors seen in nature, most often observed in the insect world. Those electric blues and greens (that dont change with the viewing angle) on flys and some butterfly and bird wings are not pigments but structures so finely tuned they refract a single or very close range of frequencies. Color that doesn’t fade - A remarkable adaptation.
In my limited experience with nacre inlay taught me that abalone although more colorful is not as tough as the whiter clam shell variety seen in larger pieces like you normally see on guitars as the pick guard.
My best success cutting it was slow, with a jeweler’s coping saw.
The laser will make it quick, easy and accurate comparatively.
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I have to agree with this. Picture frames, plaques, presentation boxes, etc…
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You forgot smelly. 
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I’ve seen the Glowforge demonstration coasters with Mother of Pearl (abalone). Looked good. Unfortunately my only laser experience with MOP was a quick attempt at an inlay. The laser shattered the material badly. Since I only had two small pieces, I decided to cut the remaining shell the traditional way with a jeweler’s saw. Probably just needed a lot of testing with laser power and speed to get it right. Little did I know a major supplier was only 5 miles down the road from my house.
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Cool! That’s really interesting…I love iridescent things! I would definitely gravitate to the abalone over the whiter clam shell. Good to know it might be a little trickier to laser. I’m sure dealing with the variations in thickness of natural materials will entail much trial and error as well…
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Retail supplier? If so I would like to know the name!
Too bad it’s temperamental - pun intended. Maybe like you said, with dialing in power and speed it could be achieved cleanly. Reducing the amount of heat deposited on it, maybe a combination of sneaking up the power incrementally, or multiple low power/fast passes.
Heheh, yes Josh, just the dust from cutting it puts you in mind of that burning protein stench. I can imagine what the ablated material would smell like. In the family with other materials that in a dark room, you would instinctively know it was something that grew biologically that was burning!
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Yes. INLAY ALL THE THINGS!
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