Hi all! What a year it’s been. The art store has transformed in so many ways since a year ago, and I could not be happier for these changes. The biggest one? We’re doing more home goods, self-help accessories, and…custom furniture! What?! Yes! The DANESSA art store is now a busy art studio and wood shop. I’m so excited to have my husband Andy be part of this and he’s been instrumental in my ability to discover possibilities on how to continue to share my artworks with others.
So far, 2021 has given me the chance to spend more time with loved ones and focus on different creative projects. And I’ve embraced every single one of them because it has given me new ways to approach art-making. One that definitely comes to mind is a recent art project I worked on for a friend. She tasked me with the idea of creating a portrait of her partner’s pet dog Forrest and making a puzzle! Our Glowforge Basic 3D laser printer and cutter was the secret sauce for making this all come to life. It took some getting used to and learning the best ways to print, mount, protect, and cut the puzzle.
The first part was the most straightforward part (at least for me!) since it involved creating the artwork. I chose to make a digital illustration of Forrest since it was going to be colorful, playful, and contemporary. Found a cute photo of him and boom! I let the pencil lead the way. 😊 Props to Adobe and Adobe Fresco for creating such a powerful tool and platform for artists!
Here’s a time-lapse of the whole illustration process.
After I completed this step, I asked my husband Andy for help with using and setting up the Glowforge for laser printing. Now, I’ve been hesitant to laser print on my own because, well, I don’t want to accidentally burn the house down. Lol. But we did our due diligence and read up on the proper care and settings for the type of materials we were using and necessary steps to take. We owe a ton of thanks to the Glowforge community for making this process painless! Ahh, but we still had more to do. Printing, mounting, and finishing the illustration print took longer than I expected. We wanted to make sure that the piece was completely dry prior to laser cutting to reduce any risks of fire. After one full day of drying, we were off to the races!
It took us two tries to get it done, but it was well worth it! Our first run was mounting the illustration print onto a chipboard. It worked out ok, but when we had to peel the painter’s tape we added on the back for protection, it began peeling more of the chipboard than we liked. So we opted for mounting them later onto a clear acrylic board, which worked out pretty well! We also learned some important things like, oh yeah, how many puzzle pieces were TOO MANY TO COUNT?! Haha! 😂 In hindsight, the laser cutting was easy. The tough work was now…counting up the pieces and peeling off the protective vinyl on the back of each itty bitty piece. LOL! Lessons, oh yes, they were definitely learned. 🙃
Here’s some photos of us working hard on peeling the protective sheet on the puzzle.
After this, we also had to figure out a nice way of packaging it all up. Our 4″x4″ cube boxes were perfect for the job, and we made sure to put the puzzle pieces in a resealable bag. We also had to make sure to include a small photo reference of the puzzle. I can’t imagine solving this puzzle without it!
Overall, we were quite happy with how it turned out. And no, I didn’t burn the house or garage down. 😊 Our Glowforge was actually pretty easy to use. With the help of the Glowforge community and forum, we were able to find support and answers to our many questions.
I highly recommend that any beginners looking to get into the world of 3D laser printing/cutting/creating consider the Glowforge. And the Glowforge templates are a neat way to get started! If you are seriously considering one, be sure to use my Glowforge referral code to snag $250-500 off yours!
Best of all, we are very grateful and thrilled to hear that my friend and her partner loved it! It’s creative artworks like these that definitely bring me joy because I know that my art and skills brought more happiness and love into this world. I firmly believe that the best gift you can give someone else is your time and full attention. And I’m always ready and willing to help others realize that happiness never decreases by being shared. I hope this thoughtful gift affords them more quality time together. ❤
Got a cool new art project in mind? We’re always looking for a new collab! You know where to find us. 🙂
-Danessa
D A N E S S A 