I had thought, an assumption I now realize, that cutting the letters [For the
Helvetica Variations] with the laser
[Charm City Laser] would result in the negative and positive spaces releasing easily. In fact I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to document the process. As it turns out it is a time consuming job. Tweezers are vital, [thanks for the tip Will] I get covered with soot and I may have to revise my estimated time of arrival. The positive shape works well but next time I would give more space in the negative, and use much heavier paper.
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| Tangled letters, positive shapes |
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| Letters with the burn mark from the laser |
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| Open magazine with bits and pieces of the negative shape floating about, The space between F and G is particularly problematic |
what an interesting project...I can see that one would discover things as one moves down the alphabet.
ReplyDeleteFascinating that you are attempting this on paper - I did some laser cutting last year on thin plywood - at least the technology guys did it for me on one of there super duper machines! It was complicated to get your head around how the negative and positive worked - I ended up with lots of bits like a jigsaw puzzle in a bag - I then glued them on a thin plywood backing and used them to blind emboss my artist book on Failure - I was pleased with the result but it took a lot of time! Hope it works out for you too Liz - that magazine cover is great and going to have a look at the website now
ReplyDeleteHi Leslie, it's great what one discovers and where it leads, at some piont I will have ti say it's finished. The most frustrating part is I still spell so badly that I forget letters in the alphabet so now I count how many on on the page!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rosie, that was one of the part I just loved doing and while the negative space in one part needed a stronger bridge, I am having the design cut from steel so may be it will be strong enough that way. Will sent me it cut from thin plywood, which is terrific, but I really wanted it from paper. I know what I need to fix for the next time. Thought of embossing paper with it, just haven't had the time.