Intro to Laser Cutting!

Today I tried using a laser cutter for the first time. :D I’ve been wanting a custom name necklace for quite awhile now, especially like those made by Cicily Margo and Di Depux. The only problem is that I’m a student trying to make rent and can’t currently afford to purchase such lovely work (I still would like to get a custom order from them in the future though!). :c

I’m going to walk you through the steps it took me to make these today! :]

Where to find a Laser Cutter

For this project I used the laser cutter at the Art and Design building of my university. There are many places you can find them outside of schools though!

Hackerspaces often have laser cutters available for use. For those of you that aren’t familiar with them, the definition of a hackerspace is:

A hackerspace or hackspace (also referred to as a hacklab, makerspace or creative space) is a location where people with common interests, usually in computers, technology, or digital or electronic art can meet, socialise and/or collaborate. …

Many many cities have hackerspaces, here’s a list of them from all around the world. :]

If you’re unable to find a laser cutter near you, you can always have designs cut online at sites like Ponoko~

Preparation of the Design

Each laser cutter may be set up slightly differently in terms of how you need to create your layout. Some have you use specific sized outlines, fill in designs with certain colors for different options (engraving, cutting, etc)

I created the layout for the pieces I needed to cut in Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape (which is free) and Corel Draw are able to make the correct vector files as well~

Cutting the Design

I chose to cut my pieces out of wood sheets because I wasn’t able to find acrylic sheets today. Here is what they looked like cut out. :D (My school charges $2 for 10 minutes of cutting. These took around 1 minnute to cut out)

Painting and Gluing

Since I used wood instead of acrylic sheets and still wanted my pieces to be colorful, I had to paint them. I used some plain acrylic and some glitter paints (as well as Krylon Clear Gloss spray paint) and painted the pieces before I glued them together.

Here’s a photo of the mess of paint I used, haha:

And here’s a photo after I put a chain on the necklace. :D

I’m excited to keep tweaking my method, and also experimenting with acrylic sheets and engraving eventually~~ :D

One of our new media professors recently mentioned a movement called Glitch Art. It caught my interest and I wrote it down in my sketchbook, but then forgot about it until my friend Hugh started researching more into it.

I looked it up on wikipedia, saw the image examples and fell in love immediately. Glitch art is defined as:

the aestheticization of digital or analog errors, such as artifacts and other “bugs”, by either corrupting digital code/data or by physically manipulating electronic devices

Hugh and I set out to try our own hand at Glitch art by editing jpg files in text editors. He managed to get it to work right away using a mac, while my windows laptop just would not open the corrupted jpgs (I searched online and other people have gotten it to work on windows..).

So after a couple hours of trying to force windows to make glitch art, I tried it on a mac during my next class and got it to work. The corrupted image you see above was originally this photo of my Sin Kitten shirt.

How to make Glitch Art (one way to do it at least):

• open the image file in a text editor (bmp and tif are supposed to work best, though mine was a jpg)
• edit/add/delete/ctrlC/ctrlX/ctrlV the text
• save the file
• open it in an image viewer and it should (but might not) look a little different
• repeat until you’re happy with the results :]

There’s just something about the aesthetic of digital corruption the I love.. I think found a something to keep me busy for awhile.. :]

My friend John (who, by the way, runs a really cool record label) recently got me interested in using disposable cameras again. I don’t even remember the last time I used film.. it was probably long long ago with a pink camera that imprinted hello kitty in the corner of each shot. :p

So this past weekend I got a $5.99 disposable camera from Walgreens and experimented. I felt guilty for taking so many photos in one weekend, but I was really interested in seeing the effect a disposable camera had on photos. I didn’t want to spend weeks/months filling my first disposable camera only to realize, after finally getting them developed, that I didn’t like the quality of the images.

But turns out there was no reason for me to worry; I’m in love with how these turned out. :] I thought I’d share some of my experiments with different locations/lighting with you guys~

Things I now love about disposable cameras:

• Each shot feels slightly precious. It prevents you from taking dozens of shots.
• You can’t see the photo immediately after taking it.
• The one or two shots you take is what you get. No choosing between a bunch of photos to find one that you feel best represents the moment. The photo you take is what ends up representing the moment. (No idealizing the memory? I’m not quite sure how to explain it, haha..)

Maybe I’m just tired of all the digital clutter I have. It’s so easy to accumulate gigabyte after gigabyte of memories… but sometimes I feel like it’s too much to keep track of. In the future I plan on using my disposable cameras at a slower pace, and hopefully I will record some nice memories with them. Memories I’ll be able to keep in a box or album instead of only digitally. :]

How to Make an Eyeball Shirt

It’s been so long since I’ve done a real tutorial. :o As always, feel free to message me if you have any questions~ Also I’d love to see yours if you end up making one! c;

helpful links:

• blanket stitch how-to on wikihow
• for a full-size image of the tutorial click the image or here

past tutorials

Adhesive and Glaze Guide

It took me until today to realize I had almost a full drawer of glues and glazes.. So many, haha. :p  I figured I’d upload a list of them all and what I use each one for, since I occasionally get questions about some of them. :]

1. Krylon UV-Resistant Clear - Gloss: Gives a shiny protective coating, I spray it over glittered things to keep glitter from from shedding constantly (matte does not look good over glitter). I also use it to protect things that may het wet/need to be washed (outside of a flask, casual jewelry).
2. Krylon UV-Resistant Clear - Matte: A matte protective coating, perfect for protecting drawings (pencil, pastel, etc).
   
3. Diamond Glaze: Gives a dimensional, resin like surface. I use it on top of shrinky dinks and scrabble tile pendants to add a 3d coating. This takes a while to dry, so first protect the surface with a spray coating (shrinky dinks) or a brush-on gloss and let dry before applying Diamond Glaze.
4. Elmer’s School Glue: I honestly don’t use this that much.. It’s water soluble so it’s not good for something that will get wet (rhinestones on shoes). Personally I think that Tacky Glue is more flexible (this may be all in my head though :p) so I prefer using that, especially for binding pages in handmade books.
5. Fabri-Tac Permanent Adhesive: DO NOT get this for rhinestones!! It may seem easier to work with because it’s more fluid and applies easily, but something in it cracks the silver backing on plastic rhinestones and gives them and old, dirty appearance (unless that’s what you’re looking for). Still have yet to find the perfect use for it, though I’m sure there will be one eventually.
6. Crafter’s Pick Fabric Glue: This is the best glue I’ve found so far for rhinestones (glued onto a solid surface/shoe at least, haven’t really tried it on fabric). It has a super good hold on rhinestones, is tacky enough to dry 3-dimensionally and hold onto rhinestones, and dries super clear. The only downside is that it dries pretty quickly, and does not come out of the applicator easily. To solve this I use a mini spatula to “grab” glue and apply it directly onto the surface that way.
7. DuraClear Varnish - Satin: I lovee using this on paper projects. In the past I’ve coated: record album notebooks and collaged candy boxes. Not pleasant to get on your hands (like superglue in texture but not nearlyy as painful). It has a nice finish, between a matte and a gloss.
8. Tacky Glue: As I mentioned earlier, I use it as an all around craft glue in place of Elmer’s. Water soluble so not good for any project that will get exposed to much water.
9. Imagination Gallery Super Color Inkjet “Over Coat”: Meant to be used for coating photos printed at home. I used it because it was at my parent’s home and I was impatient/didn’t want to pay for the Krylon Gloss spray if I already had this one available. :p I think the Krylon Gloss spray can be used for photos too.
10. Mod Podge: A waterbase glaze/glue. Gives things a gloss coating. I personally don’t like as much because I feel like the final texture is a tiny bit sticky.. I may be wrong though. Also not good for anything that will be exposed to a lot of water, as it is not completely water-resistant (I once tried to make a screen-printing design with Mod-Podge as the blocker. The screen only last through one application because the Mod-Podge started washing away when I was washing the paint off, haha oops..)
11. Painter’s Tape: Sososooo useful. It’s like masking tape but slightly thinner and easier to remove. I use it to protect parts of projects that I don’t want to ruin with brushed paint, glue or spray paint. I also use this to hang posters up on my wall. ;p
12. Packing Tape: Sometimes I’ll this to laminate things (lay strips side by side). Mostly I just use it to pack things to ship out. :]
13. Barge All Purpose Cement: I use it for repairing shoes or gluing things I absolutely want to be water/weather proof. I bought this because I was unable to find Shoe Goo Shoe Glue and a shoemaker said that it worked the same. Cons are that it has a very strong odor, as well as a yellowish color that will discolor your project if you aren’t careful.

Wow that was a lot.. hope this helps a little! As always, feel free to message me with any questions. :]

Tutorial for the bat necklace I made last night. :D

I’m beginning to think I may wear halloween inspired things year round now, haha.. More halloween diys to come probably~~

Please feel free to message me about any questions, comments, etc. :]

past tutorials