Arizona Glowforge Get-Together

Greetings, Arizona Glowforgers!

There is going to be a get-together for Arizona Glowforge users and people interested in the Glowforge to meet each other on Saturday, 18 January 2020 at Angel’s Trumpet Ale House in downtown Phoenix (810 N. 2nd St., Phoenix, AZ 85004) from 3PM to about 5PM. If you are interested in the Glowforge or, even just meeting some other local makers, please stop in and say hello!

Note that this is not an official Glowforge-sponsored event. Some of us just decided it would be fun to meet up.

If you think you are going to attend, it would be nice if you let me know so we can grab a table of the appropriate size.

Glowforge Get-Together
18 January 2020 @3PM
Angel’s Trumpet Ale House
810 N. 2nd St.
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Gath.io Event Link

XOXO 2019 Origamic Architecture / Kirigami Pop Up Card

XOXO 2019 Origamic Architecture / Kirigami Pop Up Card

I designed this in honor of the 2019 XOXO Fest! Turning a simple sheet of paper into a pop up card is fun and, I encourage you to try it.

If you have a laser cutter or a CNC cutting machine (or “craft cutter”), you can load the SVG file below into your software and, use that to cut out the card.  If you can adjust the power or depth and pressure of your cuts to only cut halfway through, you can also cut the mountain fold lines with your machine.

You can also do it entirely by hand!  Download and print the pattern on a piece of card stock.  If you want to keep the front of your card pretty, reverse the pattern and, you’ll be cutting from the back side.  Just remember to score your fold lines on the correct side.

You can also tape a printed pattern to a piece of card stock and, use a straight pin to poke a small hole at each junction of lines.  You can then remove the pattern and, use a ruler to score and cut your piece.  You can also use this approach with the pin to help make your valley fold score lines on the reverse.

The paper will tend to fold away from a score line.  By scoring mountain folds on the front and valley folds on the back, you will make the card easier to fold.

Here is a video walkthrough of cutting a card by hand:

Glowforge Settings

Score: speed 500 / power 9

Cut: speed 250 / power 36

Fast Cut (card outline): speed 500 / power 69

Pattern Files

These files are for personal, non-commercial use only. If you want to produce these to sell or for other business use, please contact me to arrange for licensing terms.

Attribution-Creative Commons NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Right-click and “Save Link As”:

XOXO 2019 Pop Up Card Pattern SVG

XOXO 2019 Pop Up Card PDF (original zine page with pattern)

Retro Rocket Tchotchke

Retro Rocket Tchotchke

A quick sketch I made a couple weeks ago is now a thing I can make for quick laser demos!

Phoenix Pop Up Card

Phoenix Pop Up Card by Andrew Crawford

My latest OA-style pop up card project is this little phoenix. After several experiments, I decided that a black background really helped to make the bird pop. I came up with an interesting approach to make that happen. The color is printed on a polyester sticker that goes on the stock, is cut, then weeded. The result is pretty spectacular.

Another great discovery was that the pearlescent stock I used for the backing cards engraves to a metallic gold. It’s better in person than in the photos. My original plan had been to stamp and emboss but, the engraving is perfect and easy.

The finished cards are 3.5″ by 2.25″ and, fit perfectly in some metallic black mini envelopes I found.

I made a few dozen of them to share.