This is papercut 084 of my papercutting quest (using the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book, in preparation for incorporating them in future papercuts that are made by laser and also by hand.)
I really like this design, and it didn’t seem to take very long to cut. That reminds me – I must start timing how long the cuts actually take, because I really have no idea how long each design takes to cut. I enjoy the process so much and find it so ‘therapeutic’ that sometimes I can be cutting a really big project and it feels like the time is just flying by. And then other times, of course, I could be fighting with a fiddly design, in fading daylight, and using a blunt blade that I can’t be bothered to change – and in those cases the cuts seem to take forever.
I’m also getting better at tidying up the cuts before I take close-up photos of them!
Day 75 of my papercutting adventure (using designs from the book “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” as inspiration…)
Decorative Vector Ornaments: Paper cut 075
Day 75 – I’m three quarters of the way through my papercutting adventure! (using the “922 Decorative Vector Ornaments” book, in preparation for incorporating them in future papercuts that are made by laser and also by hand.)
Not many mistakes on this one, and I like the swirly Art Nouveau-type design:
William Morris alphabet birthday cards. Card toppers. Laser cutter ideas and inspiration.
William Morris Style Laser Cut Birthday Cards
This week I’ve been developing William Morris-style laser cut birthday cards.
After a couple of days’ tinkering, I ended up with some really nice filigree designs of card toppers:
Birthday card design: ETesting a gold “F” design
Where to find images and inspiration for your laser cutter
For the letters shown above, I bought the extended licence from Dreamstime, which is a website where you can buy royalty-free photos and vector-based illustrations.
Here are the art nouveau alphabet images that I used. Alternatively, you can enter your own search terms in the box below, to look for specific resources. For example, type “Art nouveau”, or “William Morris alphabet” in the box, and then click the ‘search’ button.
Another great resource that I’ve found for royalty-free designs is Vectorstock.com. They seem to have forgotten to use an apostrophe in the link/banner below, but they still do a brilliant range of illustrations. And because their files are all vector-based graphics, that means that they are usually very straightforward to cut with a laser cutter:
And at the moment (April 2018) both sites are even more useful if you have your own laser cutting business, because they can provide a little bit of extra income on top of your actual laser-cut products. You can either upload some of your own original designs and allow people to buy licences to use them, or can sign up as an ‘affiliate’.
For example, with Vectorstock I uploaded my elephant design so that other people with laser cutters can use it in their own designs. Then every time someone purchases a licence for the elephant, I receive a few cents, but there is no extra cost to the purchaser. Win/win!
Similarly, with affiliate links and referral schemes, you can also receive small payments just for pointing people towards something that they are already interested in. As another example, if you include the banners/ads for these services (like the ones shown above) you could receive a small payment each time someone signs up and/or purchases a licence.
Hope you enjoyed this post. Don’t forget to say ‘hi’ via the contact us page, or to tweet me @LaserSister if you’ve tried any of the above ideas or if you’ve got comments or questions.
New design for a William Morris style coaster with the initial “K”
Following on from the previous post where I was making some new cards with William Morris style alphabet designs, this is my latest experiment. Same design, but this time it’s etched onto a round wooden coaster instead of cut into card or paper.
Latest card design: William Morris (arts and crafts movement) style laser-cut card.
Over the last couple of days I’ve been working on a new set of cards, and here is the newest one; a William Morris (arts & crafts movement) style “K” card:
Small Square William Morris Style “K”
It can also be made as a card topper, which could be mounted on a bigger card:
William Morris style letter “K” laser cut card topper.
