Spirals Bookmark Redesign

Kirigrami bookmark with an interlocking pattern of organic Celtic spirals cut from a white pearlescent stock with a gold gauze ribbon tied to one end.

I designed a kirigami Spirals Bookmark last summer, mostly just taking what I did for one of my velvet embossing plates and, using that with minor changes. It was good but, there were a few spots where it was a little fragile – bits of connecting paper less than a millimeter wide.

More recently, I was inspired to redesign the spirals bookmark to make it a bit more robust. While I was at it, I made a few and, made a few of my Celtic key pattern design bookmarks and, put them all up in the new shop section. The designs are available individually, in three-packs and, in a variety pack with all three designs.

Kirigrami bookmark with an interlocking pattern of organic Celtic spirals cut from a white pearlescent stock with a gold gauze ribbon tied to one end.
Kirigami bookmark with a Celtic key pattern cut from cobalt blue stock with a yellow ribbon tied to one end.
Original Celtic key pattern kirigami bookmark.
Kirigami bookmark with a Celtic key pattern cut from copper-brown stock with a green ribbon tied to one end.
Original Celtic key pattern kirigami bookmark.
Kirigrami bookmark with an interlocking pattern of organic Celtic spirals cut from a white pearlescent stock with a gold gauze ribbon tied to one end.
Original Celtic spirals bookmark design.
Collection of three Celtic kirigami bookmarks: two different key pattern designs in cobalt blue and copper brown and a pattern of spirals in a white pearlescent stock.
Collection of three original Celtic kirigami bookmarks.

Drawstring Key Bag

Drawstring Key Bag

This scrap (faux) leather bag with a Celtic key theme is an initial exploration of a technique for using small scraps of leather or similar material leftover from other projects. I thought the tiles would be fun with a minimal Celtic key pattern motif in the center of each, then leaned into the theme with a circular key pattern ring on the bottom and, some 3D printed key, sculpted in Nomad Sculpt.

The SVG for the “leather locker” tile is linked below. You will likely want to adjust the slot height to match the thick ness of the material you are using. Let me know if you use it to make anything interesting!

Drawstring Key Bag
Drawstring Key Bag
Drawstring Key Bag
Drawstring Key Bag
Drawstring Key Bag
Drawstring Key Bag
3D-Printed Keys close-up
3D-Printed Keys
Key Bag bottom with circular Celtic key pattern and Evermore ambigram
Key Bag bottom with circular Celtic key pattern and Evermore ambigram
Copper Key Render
Copper Key Render
Silver key render
Silver key render

This file is for personal, non-commercial use only.  Note that, by referencing these, you are agreeing to release any variations you create under identical terms.

Attribution-Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Leather Locker SVG

Depthmaps Straight from Nomad Sculpt

Triknot Depth Map

This is an update to my last post on modeling Celtic knots in Nomad Sculpt and creating depthmaps in Blender to carve with laser engravers and CNC machines. A newer feature in Nomad Sculpt makes it possible to export a depthmap directly, without having to go through Blender. A checkbox option in the debug menu (named “Heightmap”) switches to a depthmap view, which can be exported as a render. For best results, use a bitmap editor to spread the dynamic range.

I made a short video with a walkthrough:

Purple Velvet Embossed Celtic Spirals Dice Bag

Purple Velvet Dice Bag

I made another dice bag with a new embossed velvet design.  Some incremental improvements to the process for making the embossing plate: I switched to using 3M 468MP Adhesive Transfer Tape for the glue-up.  It seems every bit as solid as the wood glue and, was a lot less hassle.  More of the details are covered in the short update video below.

The kumihimo drawstring for this bag was done with glow floss for one of the colors and purple for the other.  The glow from the floss is noticeable in the dark but, not especially bright.

By comparison, the 3D resin printed glow-in-the-dark skull beads are quite bright, especially after charging up with a UV lamp for 30 seconds or so.  I used the Siraya Tech Craft resin for those.

[Amazon Associates links benefit a local arts organization.]

Spirals Velvet Embossing Plate
Spirals velvet embossing plate.
Spirals Velvet Embossing Plate
Spirals velvet embossing plate.
Purple Velvet Embossed with Celtic Spirals
Purple Velvet Embossed with Celtic Spirals
Green Velvet Embossed with Celtic Spirals
Green Velvet Embossed with Celtic Spirals
Purple Velvet Embossed with Celtic Spirals (Ruler and Pencil for Scale)
Purple Velvet Embossed with Celtic Spirals (Ruler and Pencil for Scale)
Purple Velvet Dice Bag
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads.
Purple Velvet Dice Bag
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads.
Purple Velvet Dice Bag
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads.
Purple Velvet Dice Bag
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads.
Purple Velvet Dice Bag
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads.
Purple Velvet Dice Bag (Glowing in the Dark)
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads (low-light, glowing).
Purple Velvet Dice Bag
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads.
Purple Velvet Dice Bag (Bottom)
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads (bottom, showing Celtic knotwork ring and Evermore ambigram logo).
Purple Velvet Dice Bag (Lining)
Purple velvet dice bag embossed with Celtic spirals pattern, glow floss kumihimo braid and, glow-in-the-dark skull beads (showing yellow silk habotai lining).