What are some unique materials?

I’ve heard about food and such, but what are out of the box ideas y’all have? (that are laser safe)

Out of the box - well the box of course. :joy: Of course just about anything that is organic is fair game so long as it will fit into the bed properly. Someone mentioned leaves from the garden, fabric, leather (my favorite) and of course wood. I have been stockpiling pallets that the remodelers have been leaving behind. I plan to repurpose the slats into gifts and such and plan to hit up the goodwill for old leather jackets that can be made into a whole host of gift items (I am going to try selling them). The great thing is as people get their glowforge you are going to by inspired by other makers in this movement.

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Oh, I hadn’t thought of leaves!! Love it! And the repourposing of material is generous!!! Are you going to be selling online or local? Just trying to figure out where I’ll be more successful. :smile:

It’s so awesome that this is the start of the laser movement (much like 3D Printing)! Its going to be so exciting to see what people come up with!!!


I mostly sell in my circle of friends. They can’t seem to get enough of the things I find in my yard. Test run doing these for three years if you dry them before they lose color (I use a regular clothes iron) and then quickly seal them they retain color very well. I mount them on canvas and use a Cameo or Curio to cut lettering. These are currently selling for $35 each. Not bad for something I didn’t design and it literally fell out of the sky.

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Love it. Very homey. Talk about minimum material! So cool. Yet another technique I’ll have to try!!! Thanks!!

Thanks. I have some very large leaves that would look nice on these canvases but there isn’t room to put the name so I am thinking I can just cut the name out of the leaf. This particular one was a gift for a fall wedding. The recipient really liked it.
Of course I plan to also use the laser with acrylic paint on canvas to burn it for some experimental wall art, too.
I do have an etsy shop but have not taken advantage of it (lack of marketing ability on my part) so I just sell to friends and family. It’s humbling when someone outside that circle contacts me for something, though.

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You can order custom blank canvases. I have a good friend who does it (I’ll put a link below). But cutting it out of the leaf would be cool too!!

I get the marketing thing. Sometimes just starting small (having your friends and family order through it) is a good way to start and then building from there.

Not really that out of the box, but I’m looking forwarding to playing with.this stuff.

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I’ve made some really cool objects using fine silk that’s made for inkjet printing. It’s backed with paper and comes on a tight roll. I’m really interesting in how GF will handle cutting out images printed on it, and more interestingly, cutting around negative spaces printed on it.

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That sounds quite interesting. Is there a particular brand that you have had good luck with? I searched inkjet silk on amazon and got many results.

I’ve bought it directly from Jacquard.com because it comes in a roll, 10 feet long by 8.5 inches, I think.

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In fact, here’s the thing I’ve used: http://www.amazon.com/Jacquard-Inkjet-Silk-8-5x120-roll/dp/B001DNCITE $23 at Amazon.

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Aaand another interesting supplier, who carries wider-format printable fabric rolls with different coatings. They all seem like they’d have MSDS sheets.

Dharma Trading Post:
Wide Format InkJet Fabric Rolls

and Fabrisign Silk InkJet Fabrics

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Thanks for the links @morganstanfield. I picked up a roll of the 8-1/2" wide stuff a year ago to experiment with on my Roland eco-solvent printer. It worked well. I have been wishing to find it in wider widths. This opens up a lot of project ideas.

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Very neat! I’ve never seen that before.

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I’ve cut out patterns from several different kinds of fabrics for sewing. The laser seals the edges and they dont fray…
Felt cuts nicely too…did custom Christmas Stocking one year…the family picked their own fonts for their names…lol.

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