Wedding invites

I fairly frequently get asked about wedding invites but there tend to be a couple of issues:

- Style. Mine isn't a stereotypically "wedding-ing" style, and I'm not going to try and force my style to be something it isn't.

- Cost. Laser cutting is expensive, and doesn't scale very well. I try very hard to keep my costs fair and reasonable for my clients, but a multi-layered, personalised, fancy-looking wedding invitation can quickly spiral out of control.


Having said that I have done a few really great wedding jobs recently here are a few process photos of one in particular. For this Sarah was very open to suggestions, she had a few examples of laser-cut invites that she really liked and a few leads for me in terms of colour and theme.

I'll follow up next week with some photos of the final product, but these photos show the beginning.

Slate turning into glass!

Mike was doing some high-powered slate tests today and with the power really high we got this amazing result. The slate turned into glass! That's how hot the laser burns. Unfortunately the glass just chips off, but still, amazing result!

Stained Plywood

Here we have some plywood necklace and earring display stands, sanded and stained. We have stained wood for laser cutting before, but never on pieces as large as these necklace stands. For a while I was convinced I had ruined 6 pieces of plywood, but lucky for me they looked better once the stain had dried. After we cut them we added simple collapsable stands to the back.
The stands are currently showing off the jewelry of Judith Ritchie at Showcase Ireland.
See Judith's work at http://www.etsy.com/shop/aboxformytreasure
Showcase is on at the RDS in Dublin until the 23rd of January.

Mini Smock Alleys

This is a slightly cryptic post because I can't yet reveal what these are for, however, I couldn't wait to show them to you all.

I was asked a few weeks ago to make 70 mini models of the newly-reopened Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. Delighted to get a new mission I went for it.

They are essentially made the same way as the mini houses but the scale is much smaller so there was a challenge when it came to standardising the features like the window bars and the crucifix. At this kind of scale any architectural model quickly goes from being a perfect representation of the subject to being a trick. A skillful assessment of the features that will have the most impact leaves you with a model that looks pretty complicated and comprehensive but that can be made quickly.

My client for this project has the same love for chipboard and red as I do so trying to figure out the materials and finish wasn't a problem at all.

I hope to reveal the function of these in a few weeks, in the mean time enjoy the photos.

Wooden 3D Christmas Tree

I know, I know, its only the first of October and Christmas is months away, however, for us October means the busy season as well and truly begun. Only 38 days until the Dalkey Winter Fair means that I'm pretty much out of time to design anything new for this year. Fortunately I have been beavering away at a few ideas over the summer and here is the first of them.

This tree is an expansion on the acrylic 3D tree from last year. By making these ones in wood instead of acrylic we cut down on a huge number of headaches with the manufacturing, they can be larger, and I think the contrast of the baubles with the wood is nicer too.

I like the natural wood look but I'm going to see what happens as well if I stain the wood green and also play around with only having one colour of bauble per tree (I have a feeling that a blonde- wood tree covered in red acrylic baubles will look amazing)

Anyway, I promise to try to keep the Christmas stuff to a minimum until at least after Hallowe'en!