Most of the time I’ve spent with the laser cutter has centered around learning what different materials will do when cut or etched, and thinking about how to use Illustrator as a pattern-cutting tool. I’m not sure that I made anything before this that I couldn’t have made some other way in a similar amount of time. But in making this felt box I finally took advantage of one of the best features of the tool — generating multiples!

I made a little pile of them in like 10 minutes. So exciting!

They’re cute and fuzzy, utilitarian, and fun to fold. I think they look happy when they’re full of stuff.

At first I tried to make a test version out of paper, but it didn’t work very well. (Paper’s not as pliable and forgiving as felt.) I also had been trying to do all the design thinking in Illustrator ahead of time at home, so I could simply go into the learning studio, cut out the thing and be done. But it didn’t really work out this way — some tweaking was required.

Turns out it’s much much easier to cut one out of felt, mess with it (cut it up, draw on it, squish it), adjust the Illustrator file, cut out a new one, and repeat as necessary. Hey, I guess that’s rapid prototyping in a nutshell.

Possible next steps are to try scaling them differently (shorter sides, more rectangular shapes, steeper angle to the top) and incorporating a second contrasting color showing through cut-outs. Since I only can visit the learning studio once in a while I still am doing a lot of thinking about the design away from the laser cutter. But I’ve also got four of them to futz with while I re-work the design.

The video shows a set of materials for light experimentation: A simple screen made with an embroidery hoop and a self-made moving LED light source. I wanted to create a set-up that can work on a table or be mounted on a wall,  something that can be changed to produce different light patterns. In this instance, the light is moving through a translucent tube, photos below show the same light source inside a  mirrored prism and other tunnels.

I got interested in the beautiful effect of a point light source moving through a mirrored tunnel when I worked on kaleidoscopes with artist John Edmark. In the last couple of months, I made this equipment for my own experiments and I would like to try it with our visitors on the museum floor. I think at first I was excited about using this with a Mylar tube (left) , but recently I like to use mirrors and translucent materials.

Once I had started with the embroidery ring as a screen I decided to make everything out of wood. The linkage I used to move the light back and forth worked pretty much right away. It was harder than I thought to find a good light source and that led to inventing one specially for our needs.

We use a LED star with a simple circuit board.  It is much brighter than a Mac light, stays at the same brightness for a couple of hours on battery power and can also be plugged in using a 4.5V power supply. On top of being bright, the LED star stays cold and is small enough to fit nicely into the light tunnels I use.

While playing with my new equipment, I noticed that some of the most stunning effects originate from bringing the light source really close to a reflective or translucent material, the light projection can work like a magnifying glass and show the detailed structure of the material projected on a surface.

In the last couple of weeks, I have spent many evenings playing around with our new laser cutter in the learning studio. So far I have not started any big projects, but just enjoyed the opportunity to work with such different materials on the same machine. It’s astonishing how the cutter can produce acrylic gears, colorful fabric designs, etchings in a mirror surface, fragile paper ornaments, or wood cut-outs (more in this Sample Gallery).

The image to the left shows quick 10 minute clip art designs we used to test materials, below is an example of a bigger project by Kristina Larsen. She just started  to use the laser cutter with Adobe Illustrator for her artwork.

“I’ve been wanting to do something with this design for a long time. The black felt is made of polyester and the rest is a slightly thinner rayon/wool blend. The non-synthetic felt looks and feels much nicer, so I plan to swap out the black with the good stuff in dark brown. Once it’s all together I’ll attach it to a backing material, probably fabric.

I find the process of fitting the pieces together immensely satisfying, like working on a squishy jigsaw puzzle. I’m also happy with the combination of precision cuts and organic lines, and that I’ve managed to use computer and laser cutter to make something warm and handmade feeling.”

I call them Vergnuggets – little bits of Vergnügen.