So what?

So what are we working on this November?

 So far this month, we've been absolutely swamped with orders. Which has been wonderful! People buying presents for this years winter holidays, wanting personalized and customized products to be that perfect gift for that person they care about. And it's been wonderful working each order.

But that doesn't mean we aren't still making progress! We have at least 25 jewelry products that are yet to be made available for sale, that will be making their way to being available very soon. We have multiple new design ideas for gaming storage upgrades that we're ironing out the plans for. We even have new Deck Box designs on the horizon that should be available VERY soon.

We're even looking at further expanding the reach of what products we sell, to: Art prints and scrap-booking stamps.

This month will also begin us being far more active on each social media platform, so stay tuned for awesome posts! That includes more regular posts to this blog, so there should be some really fun things being posted soon.

DIY: Deck Box

Whether you're familiar with our products or new to our store, we thought it was about time to post a DIY on how we make our deck boxes. Many people have access to a Laser Cutter, and don't realize it. No, you don't have to go out and buy a $5,000 machine. Lots of places are public use, like hacker spaces. These sorts of places will let you come in and use their equipment for free! All you have to do is bring your own material/pay for the material you use (Specifically with the use of a 3D printer). Think it's about time to look up a hacker space near you?

Regardless of whether you plan on either buying a machine of your own, or investigating a hacker space, let's get to the good stuff!

We also have this DIY posted on Imgur, so if you've already seen it there, there isn't much reason to view it here.

Here's a finished view of what we're making in this DIY!

Getting Started Engraving

Progress shots of the laser doing it's thing. We use Cherry Wood for all of our boxes currently, because of its durability as well as its beautiful color and characteristics. Please excuse how dirty everything is--things get dirty quickly when you're evaporating solids! And yes, we know our duct tape rocks.



If it weren't for the exhaust fan in the back, your entire room would be hazy with smoke. Trust me, I've accidentally forgotten to turn the exhaust on before.




Here's what it looks like when we set an image up to engrave. Yep, our laser is a Chinese laser.

Cutting

Next the whole side is cut out.



The opposite side, engraved and cut out.



Here's what it looks like--we work with PLT files for our cuts.



We have various settings marked into the dial tape, for different materials/depths that we commonly use.



Through the looking glass. But seriously, don't open the lid while the laser is working. I was being bad before.



After a piece is cut out, we sand it with a dremel tool. One of the ways we go the extra mile with our products is sanding them smooth. A lot of people that sell laser engraved wood products don't sand out the burn that can clearly been seen, and detracts from the engraving. You can see a lot of burning in the piece on the right.



Things get pretty dusty. Advised: Don't wear dark colored pants or shirts when sanding your box pieces.



We brush off each piece, so the dust doesn't interfere with the gluing or final varnish. The piece on the right (skull) has been dusted off.



I used to sand all pieces all by hand, not having a decent solution to sanding efficiently. Then I discovered the magic of an oscillating precision sander... come to find out the motor burns out with too much use. I got through maybe 15 boxes before it went kaput.



Spoiled on the oscillating sander, I needed a tool that wasn't going to cost me $40 every 15 boxes. I splurged on a nice dremel.



Here's what a complete box looks like, laid out as they would fit together. The blank panels on the right go inside of the box, giving extra durability, rigidity, and gives a lip for the lid to close onto tightly. In some of our boxes, (Our Steampunk and Cthulhu boxes) we actually use these back panels as a focal point, cutting away parts of the front pieces to reveal the engraved back panels. It gives the boxes a little bit of neat extra dimension that doesn't affect the structural integrity of the box.

Glue time!

 

This part is tricky, because if you don't manage to hold all of the pieces together while you're gluing, they'll all just sort of fall apart and collapse in your hands. So yes, the hand position you see is a professionally developed technique (not really) proven to be optimal for keeping the initial pieces together, and keeping the hands free from being covered in glue.



The lid it put together the same way. We always make sure that the same lid pieces match the body pieces, so the grain is exactly the same from lid to body.

All come together

 

Completely glued box! It still looks really dusty, and it is still dusty, but only slight. Since the majority has been brushed off, the varnish will just soak into the remaining dust that you can't get out from the burned engraving, and become completely non-visible.



Now here's the part where you put the muzzle on your Veloc--err, the rubber bands on your box to make sure that nothing comes apart while curing. Although the Gorilla 2-part epoxy we use 'dries' in 5 minutes, things can still go awry if you don't wait a few hours for it to completely cure.



Clever girl.


Thanks for reading! If you want to see the box made in this DIY Album, you can check it out at http://lacersedge.lacernet.com

Dinosaurs Galore

I've been in a dino mood lately, and so everything that I end up designing in my head seems to wind up being dinosaur themed. Well, not quite all, but it does appear to be taking the lead in frequency.

I have adorable dinosaur earrings designed and launched on our website (Which, by the way, is new!) which were a blast to design. At the moment we have Stegosaurus ones and Triceratops ones.

Then we have my favorite, Velociraptor skull necklace that's translucent, and really cool. (I have an extra made for myself to wear all the time). I'll be making another version that isn't translucent, as some people won't like how it's such a subtle piece of jewelry.

Finally we have what I'm working on while writing this post--dundundun--a new TCG Deck Box! But that means--yep, it's dinosaur themed. Velociraptor themed, to be precise. And here is a little preview on what's getting engraved on one of the sides:

I only have one side engraved at the moment, so I don't actually have anything I can show you at the moment. But this box will be getting it's own blog post once I have more to show for it.

Back from Absence!

It's been a while since we last posted, but we've been making great headway with brand new designs. This post will be specifically related to our new Deck Box designs.

Depending on the design, each new box design can take anywhere from 4 to 12 hours of continuous work to completely finish and have ready to print. At the moment we're currently preparing these new designs to be photographed and listed on our store, but I can share with you all a glance at some preview images before they're turned into images that can be used for engraving.

Ornamental

The first design, and the first that I began designing of all four, is an ornamental design. It's designed to be generic enough to interest anyone looking for a deck box that doesn't cover any certain niche theme (As our Cthulhu boxes do, or even our Steampunk box to some degree), so it's suitable for any number of TCG or Board Game cards.

We also designed it to still be compatible with cards that may be labeled with a certain "color profile" as MTG, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh card decks have, being made of one or multiple different colors or types. To do this, we have 5 different variations that a customer may select from, where at the center of the box a hole is cut from is cut with 1-5 divisions that may each be colored with a designated color. The result of this will be better outlined in a later post about this box specifically that we'll be posting in the next few days.

Our old MTG Mana boxes used to offer this functionality with single or dual colors, but since we're no longer offering that box design in particular, we created a new design that better implemented multiple color options.

Here's a sneak peak at the new Ornamental design:

The above image shows the Front of the box (design on the left) and a side of the box (design on the right). Both images are mirrored on their opposite sides in the final product.

As you can see, the red lines on the bottom of the image are where the wood is cut out from the outside wall of the box, leaving just the surface of the inside panel exposed, where it's then painted with the desired colors.

Sci-Fi/Hi-Tech or Ars Technica

Our second design sings another tune, more themed than the previous design that fills the space of a Science Fiction or Faux-Hi-Tech vibe for a deck box. It's easy to see this deck holding cards from a game like Netrunner, whose theme revolves around a similar art aesthetic. 

The above image shows off the front and back image on the box (design on the left) as well as the lid of the box that customers at our Etsy store can get customized with their choice of text (design on the right)

Dragon

Our third design illustrates a fantasy favorite: Dragons! This particular dragon species is depicted on the front in a full illustration as well as on each side in silhouettes.

Again, the red outline shows where the front wall is cut out to reveal the painted inside panel of the customer's color choice. This leaves the background of the fully illustrated dragon a solid color, and the dragon's eye depicted on the back of the box to have it's own iris color to match.

Tempus Ex

Our fourth design goes a bit more simple with its illustration, bordered with a light steampunk theme that isn't as intense as our original steampunk design.

Front (design on top) and Back (design on bottom).

____

You can always check out our storefront here:

http://LacersEdge.Etsy.Com

Email me: klink098@gmail.com

We love hearing people's questions and comments so please feel free to contact us either through email, this blog, or through our etsy page.

Cthulhu!

Yep, our latest design is now live and available, and this time's it's Cthulhu! Or rather a little chibi version of the awe inspiring and fearful god Cthulhu.

This box is a trading card game deck box, designed to fit 60 sleeved Magic the Gathering cards or 90 unsleeved MTG cards.  Each purchase allows you to customize the lid with text of your choosing!

This box is available for sale here!

da Vinci is now Live!

Well, the box we designed with his sketches and hand writing is now live and for sale, at least.

That's right! It's finally here!

You can check it out here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/224024498/da-vinci-drawing-sketches-keepsake-dic

It's also possible to customize the box in various ways.

Aside from that, we're still working on perfectly our other designs, and getting them ready to go live as well.

Deck Boxes

I'm a big fan of card games, especially Magic the Gathering... into which I have sunk hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours. In my youth I even played with Pokemon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Digimon.

I still play Magic the Gathering, and have always wanted fancy deck boxes. Well I'm about to make my own dream come true! I'm designing a set of MTG themed boxes, as well as misc themes for deck-sized boxes.

One style in particular features the various manas from MTG. The front of the box has a panel behind the top layer of wood, painted with the color of mana, with a circle on the top layer engraved with the mana symbol.

 A preview of our WIP, picturing the black engraving on the wood, and the panel behind that painted in white.

I plan on making a deck box version of our previous designs (Hobbit, da Vinci, and Steampunk) incorporated into this box type. Because I'd LOVE to have a da Vinci style deck box for my blue/artifact proliferate deck.... it somehow seems fitting.

I may have a version which instead of painted wood, has colored acrylic.


Have questions comments? Feel free to let us know! You can get in contact with us directly at LacersEdge@stargladecrafts.com.

Wood Choices

 We use Cherry Wood for most of our products, but why? That reason is really simple! Of all the woods we've tested, cherry wood is the best all around.

First off, it's gorgeous. The wood has a natural red tint to it, with a subtle golden luster. Both the red and golden luster intensify when a clear lacquer is applied, while the red and gold will remain subtle and pale with just a polyurethane applied. We get the best of both options, depending on the application! We like using a polyurethane for jewelry, as to not darken it severely keeping it a neutral for all outfits. We use lacquer for decorative pieces like our boxes to make them really pop in their surroundings and give them a refined appearance.

It's burn color. This wood's burn color is a dark red/brown to brown, which contrasts perfectly with the luster and color of the wood. It has a high contrast, compared to other woods, resulting in a clearer engraving. Maple burns well, but the colors are too yellowed in appearance.

Hardness. It's far from the hardest wood out there, but it still takes a lot to break things made with this wood. You pretty much have to be trying to break it, to do so. It's medium hard wood, so it's still easy to work with, when engraving/cutting it, while still holding its durability as a finished product.

Smell. Smell of course plays a factor in what wood we've chosen. Some woods can be offensive to the nose, such as certain pines. Others are very appealing like Cedar. Cherry wood has a very neutral wood smell, that is not offensive nor particular odorous, as to not deter people who don't care for woody smells like cedar.

Grain. The grain in cherry wood does not carry high contrast, as other woods like walnut, cedar, or tigerwood. This allows for designs to be etched into it without the grain messing up with the contrast of the engraved image. This also means that most of our products are nearly identical. There will be some very minor grain striping, as occurs in almost all woods, but it will be minor.


Our current wood choice covered, we do plan on making some of our boxes from cedar! Cedar is one of my favorite woods aside from cherry. I love the smell, the color, and the burn color. The difficulty is finding workable cedar. A lot of cedars are brittle, soft, and lose a lot of moisture after being cut, causing them to bend in a way you didn't intend. This makes them particular difficult to actually work with, though we plan on having certain products available using this wood type.

Behind da Vinci

I've teased in my previous posts about the da Vinci box, but never posted any pictures. So to make up for it, this post will be all about the da Vinci box, some more teasers, and a bit of "Behind the scenes" for this box in particular.

Origin

This box was designed for my partner in crime, James Lacer, for whom the business is named, and my boyfriend. I wanted to make something special for him. He has a da Vinci picture hanging in our back room, which really looks fantastic, and that he likes a lot. Inspired by that, I designed and made him this box. He has the first iteration of this box, made especially for him with a personal message on the inside.

Design

The box's structural design was simple enough--it isn't an elaborate design like the steampunk box or the Hobbit box. But it's small and very sturdy.

I would like to take a moment to say that da Vinci's sketches are actually surprisingly difficult to come by in decent resolution. This made the creation of this box remarkably trying. There were many failed attempts at rendering images usable. This alone made this box's overall design more difficult to achieve than the other two boxes.

That aside, I'm very pleased with the final outcome, which I'll finally share a few teasers of!

Behind the scenes

If you've been wondering or curious about what goes on in designing these boxes, look no further! Here's a few images displaying what it looks like before it gets etched.

Here's an image showing a glimpse of one of our short sides, shown finished in one of the above images.

A quick little teaser of the lid image, and the side that you haven't gotten to see yet! (The text at the top that's cut of says "Leonardo da Vinci")

Each images shows a quick glimpse of the shape that our cutouts takes, making them fit together like puzzle pieces.

Did you know, that a single engraving can take up to 45 minutes? Depending on the speed that the machine is set to, and how much work the laser actually has to do.
Our most complicated box can take up to 4 hours to complete, from etching, cutting, sanding, assembling, and finishing with a varnish.



Like our work? Let us know! We always want to hear from you. Frequent updates on our products and methods are published to this blog, so be sure to follow us.


As always, these products will be available at in our Esty store not long from now!
Want to know when they're available? Be sure to follow this blog and like our Facebook page, both of which will announce them for sale immediately after they're made available.
Finally, you can get in touch with us directly at LacersEdge@stargladecrafts.com
We love hearing from you, and any suggestions you may have!

What are our plans?

If you've read our previous blog post, you know we're currently working on designing intricately made laser engraved boxes. We also have other plans currently in the works beyond that though! I'd like use this post to take a minute and explain what all our plans are for our in-the-works products--which will focus on customization! Everyone will be able to find something that suits them, when absolutely everything may be customized.

This post will broken down in to 2 parts, so feel free to skip to any part you are interested in.

• In-the-works - What we're currently working on.
• Customization - All about the customization for our products that we're going to be offering with our new line of product

In-the-works 

As already stated, we're currently working on producing various box designs:
A sliding top lid structure featuring a Hobbit engraving around the box.
A simple, rectangular flat-lid box with da Vinci's sketches and writing etched into the sides and lid.
An intricate box featuring recessed panels that are engraved, with steampunk designs. A few pictures of this design can be seen in this post.

We plan to have them available for sale by the end of next week! Before they're posted, we'll be updating this blog with more information and especially pictures of the finished products. We'll also be posting in-progress pictures, to give you an insight into how we go about designing our creations.

We're also working on lightboxes. These laser cut boxes are cubes with silhouetted designs cut out from the surface. Behind the wood sides a frosted clear glass is placed against the wood. Within the structure a light is placed, which will hit the frosted glass and diffuse the light, making the light cast evenly through the silhouetted designs of the wood. It is, in essence, an artfully crafted desk/table light.

Our first design for this is crow themed. Silhouettes of crows are displayed cut into the wood. One panel has a crow's feather, while others show various crows in different scenes. One such scene has three crows taking off from a tangle of tree branches.

Another project we're working on is laser engraved wall art, and painted engraved wall art. Laser engraved wood has an interesting interaction with thin layers of paint. It combines the hard, dark lines of laser engraving with the soft, subtle colors of watercolors. It makes for a very unique aesthetic, and reminds me of an old-time photo or sketch.

Customization

Basically:
We plan for everything to be customizable.

What that actually means:
All of our boxes we're designing are made so that the structure is independent from the designs we etched into it. This means that anyone can choose any box structure they like, and say "I really like this box structure, but I really want this other boxes etched designs on it."

That being said, it's not as simple as copy-and-pasting one boxes images onto another. A lot of consideration goes into the arrangement and proportions for a particular box/image combination, to make it look right. Especially if proportions are completely different from one box to another it takes a lot of manipulation to prepare it successfully with another boxes structure that it wasn't originally designed for. That isn't even including boxes who have completely different designs such as extra parts or less parts.

However keep in mind that this isn't being written to deter anyone from getting a customized piece--we're always happy to go the extra mile to satisfy what you want! We just want to give you the full disclosure of our processes and what really goes into our products and their creation.

Beyond that, we will also offer simple alterations--such as adding your name to the product!

Finally, we'll also offer complete customization--which can come in two flavors:
You choose the box type you want, of the ones we have available. You give us the images you want to apply to the box, maybe even replacing certain parts of a box design we already have available (Maybe you want an lightbulb on your steampunk box lid, rather than an air balloon).

The other flavor is, choose a box structure design you want, and then you tell us the type of design you want! Tell us the style, maybe giving us some examples, and we'll design it from scratch for you! Maybe you want a celtic designed box (Which is actually in the works, but I digress)? We'll design it and create it for you.

That's all fine and dandy, but that was only covering boxes. Essentially, the same will apply to other products too, especially our lightboxes. When we have the products listed in our store, we'll have the option available for different variables of customization.






As always, these products will be available at in our Esty store not long from now!
Want to know when they're available? Be sure to follow this blog and like our Facebook page, both of which will announce them for sale immediately after they're made available.
Finally, you can get in touch with us directly at LacersEdge@stargladecrafts.com
We love hearing from you, and any suggestions you may have!

New Development

Lacer's Edge has come a long way since its initial beginnings. With so many ideas and projects planned, we wound up focusing on Jewelry, making laser engraved pendants and earrings. We always had so many other things planned, even stemming away from laser engraved products, hoping to make routered wood products. While that's still in the plans, we're focused still currently on laser engraving.

So what's our newest development? Meticulously designed laser etched and cut boxes!

Designing the structure of the boxes alone to be compatible with our equipment and materials was a journey in and of itself. Even once the initial design is completed successfully, the structure must be altered significantly to make variable designs for different types of boxes.

Our initial design was a box structure that had a windowed panel for a lid, which was open. Below that, a rectangular slide separated the contents of the box, as a lid. The slide was easy to pull through a perfectly sized gap at the small end of the box.

Since the initial design, which was fine as it was, we've even modified it further. Through various iterations (Which are all marked as prototypes) we've come to a design we're incredibly pleased with. It features the same function, but with improved points. The slide may no longer come fully away from the container, the end of it locking it into the box with a small notch, but this remaining bit of the slide inside is hidden by the lip of the top of the box, so to not obstruct accessing the contents when opened.

We've also included magnets on the slide, to secure it safely to the whole of the box when being stored/moved about.

Guess what the original etching design for this box was. A hobbit box! Sure enough, the long sides of the box feature a delicately engraved map of the Shire, while the short ends sport the phrases "No Admittance Except on Party Business", and "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit", each bearing the familiar ornate font they appear written in. The top of the lid has border-work matching border-work from the map and short sides. The slide is barren aside from the center, in which is engraved a Hobbit Door, rune and all.

That's not even including our other box variations.

Our second design was the most simple of boxes. Just a short, rectangular box, with da Vinci's drawings and writing engraved artistically across the surfaces. The lid was just flat with an insert that fit perfectly with the rest of the box, securing it with perfect suction.

The third design and most ambitious yet, was a box who's structure was carved out like the skeleton of a box, with only the angles and bounding sides present. So what makes this a box, if none of the sides are present? Immediately behind the skeletal structure are panels, which are engraved, fleshing out the box. This gives the box a more complex design, offering depth to it.

Our very first, and currently only design for this version is a steampunk design. The "skeleton" pieces have gears as a part of their structure, partially obscuring the designs on the panels. The lid is slightly separated from the body of the box, and the top and bottom tabs are "too large" completing and accentuating the "clunky" steampunk look. (Other designs that aren't steampunk and meant to appear "clunky" will not have the enlarged tabs or separation from lid and body)

 As you can see, the gears on the edges of the box are raised from the panel beneath, giving a wonderful extra bit of dimension to the box.

 The side with the hot air balloon and text is the lid, while the watch and floral pattern is the long side.

Designing the structure of the box isn't the only hard part. Preparing, compiling, arranging, and manipulating the images takes a remarkable amount of time, and no small amount of proficiency with image editing and use of design software.

Fortunately my prior work with image editing and manipulation for our jewelry products (and even previous digital art practice) has given me a fair advantage in tackling this large of an endeavor. Rather than fumbling through [most] tools and tricks, I know a fair bit to navigate my way through what I need to do to achieve the overall aesthetic I'm after. Though there is still a good share of stumbling that occurs, as any endeavor that strays from what you're used to will inevitably cause you to encounter situations that you are unfamiliar in dealing with.

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed our previews of one of our boxes. There will be more coming later, when I'm not snowed in. I'll be showing the da Vinci box and Hobbit box fully next time. (And maybe even show the two hidden sides of the steampunk box)

If you like our designs, we always love hearing from you!
Don't like them, or something about them and have suggestions? We'd love to hear that too! We always want to know how we can improve.
Maybe you have a suggestion for more designs? We're open ears!

For those who may be wondering, yes these boxes will be for sale. They'll be appearing in our Etsy store, LacersEdge.

The best way to keep an eye on when they're available is to follow this blog, where I'll be posting frequent updates about them, and new boxes.
I'll also be posting them to our Facebook page, as soon as they're in the shop!
Finally, you can get in touch with us directly at LacersEdge@stargladecrafts.com