Celtic art Archives - Page 2 of 4

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!

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.

Leather Locker SVG

Depthmaps Straight from Nomad Sculpt

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:

3D Modeling Celtic art CNC laser

Celtic Spirals Bookmarks

This kirigami Celtic spirals bookmark is a variant of the pattern I used for embossing the purple velvet for the last dice bag. The gold and the smoke blue ribbon both look really good with the ice gold stock.

Celtic art Glowforge laser paper art

Slotted Dice Reliquary

Dice reliquaries from laser-cut hardwood ply.

Celtic art Glowforge laser spirals wood woodworking

Purple Velvet Embossed Celtic Spirals 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.]

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 (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).

Celtic art Glowforge laser spirals textile

Hexagonal Box

This is a quick box I designed to package one of my little drawstring bags.

You can download the plain version below to make your own hexagonal box.

Hexagonal Box Pattern

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.

Hexagonal Box Pattern (SVG)

Celtic art Glowforge key pattern laser paper art paper engineering

Adding Dimension to Laser-Cut Acrylic Earrings

Translucent Orange Dished Acrylic Spiral Earrings

I am seeing a lot of interesting laser-cut acrylic earrings in the forums and on social media right now. There is a range of interesting and intricate designs. They are, however, all quite flat. I wasn’t sure if people just hadn’t thought of heat-shaping them or, if there was some extra challenge in doing so. I have done some heat-shaping on other acrylic projects (like the VR Headset Wall Mount and the Paper Towel Roll Holder) and, thought I would give some simple heat dishing a go.

Long ago, my grandfather showed me how he was doing silver piercedwork jewelry and, I later did something similar with hand-cut paper earrings I was making. A wooden dishing or dapping block is great for this sort of thing.

If you are curious or, want to give it a try, I made a quick (3 minute) video showing how I produced these dished/domed acrylic spiral earrings and skull earrings (it is October, after all).

TL;DW (too long; didn’t watch): heat gun on low, moving constantly with the center over the outer edge (to avoid overheating the center), about an inch away, for 30-40 seconds. When the acrylic starts to droop, apply pressure to hold in the desired shape. Then, allow to cool for about 40-60 seconds to re-solidify.

Translucent Kiwi Green Dished Acrylic Spiral Earrings

Translucent Kiwi Green Dished Acrylic Spiral Earrings (side view) — Translucent Kiwi Green Dished Acrylic Spiral Earrings (Side View)

Translucent Kiwi Green Dished Acrylic Spiral Earrings (Front and Back)

Translucent Cherry Blossom (Pink) Dished Acrylic Spiral Earrings

Translucent Pastel Blue Dished Acrylic Spiral Earrings

Silver Shell Earrings by H. Clay Sibley c. 1985

Silver Piercedwork Earrings by H. Clay Sibley c. 1985

Silver Piercedwork Hummingbird Earrings by H. Clay Sibley c. 1985

Hand-Cut Pierced Paper Turtle Earrings — Hand-cut pierced paper turtle earrings, coated with leather-like puff paint. c. 1987

Celtic art Glowforge laser spirals

Drawstring Bag of Many Projects

I have a fair amount of custom-embossed Celtic key pattern velvet left from the pillow project. I was thinking some of it might make a cool drawstring bag. I may have gotten a little carried away with the details:

Silk-lined round-bottom bag
A new Celtic knotwork ring design for a laser-engraved faux-leather bottom
Kumihimo braided drawstring
Customized skull beads
Second set of skull beads from scratch

There is a separate post with the design files for the floss separator I made for this, in case it is of use to anyone else.

It was a lot of fun and, I’m happy with the result. Of course, I shot video of every step of the construction of both versions of the bag.

Drawstring Bag (Bottom) — Celtic key pattern embossed velvet dice bag with faux/vegan leather bottom engraved with Celtic knotwork, hand-braided kumihimo drawstring, beaded pulls, lined with yellow silk.

Drawstring Bag (Interior) — Celtic key pattern embossed velvet dice bag with faux/vegan leather bottom engraved with Celtic knotwork, hand-braided kumihimo drawstring, beaded pulls, lined with yellow silk.

Yellow and green kumihimo braid — Yellow and Green Kumihimo Braid

Skull Beads — Painted 3D SLA resin printed skull beads.

Counterweight Bag — Counterweight bag made from an old yukata

Cow bone skull beads with red seed bead eyes

3D printing Celtic art Glowforge key pattern knotwork kumihimo laser leather leatherworking resin SLA textile

Viking Longship Design on Hardcover Notebooks

I finished a new Viking Longship design for the vegan/faux leather hardcover notebook jackets!

Celtic art Glowforge laser leather leatherworking spirals

Celtic Key Pattern Embossed Velvet

With a new couch on the way last year, I came up with a plan to create some unique thematic throw pillows to go on it. In addition to one made from a fine wool Crawford clan tartan, I envisioned one of a forest green velvet embossed with one of my key pattern designs.

I figured that some combination of heat, pressure and a rigid die/stamp/form would give me what I wanted. I tracked down some (100% polyester upholstery) velvet, ordered samples and, made a test form on the laser from 1/8″ thick MDF. I cut a key square and, experimented using my old heat press.

After some experimenting (on purple velvet, while waiting on the green), I was able to find an approach that works. I set the pressure on the heat press by putting in a single sheet of 1/8″ MDF, tightening down until it touched the board, then adding another quarter turn. The range of pressure that works is pretty narrow. Too little pressure and the resulting design is faint. Too much pressure and, you emboss the edges of the form’s base, too.

The form goes on the bottom platen, facing up. The velvet goes on the form, facing down. I mist the back of the velvet lightly with a little water so there will be a little steam (but not enough to spot the fabric).

The optimal heat seems to be about 400º F for about 15 seconds.

I broke out my vintage Elna Supermatic sewing machine and, turned some of it into a pillow. I did several extra pieces. So, look for it in future projects.

There is a full video walk-through of making the forms and the embossing and, a separate video showing off the sewing machine and making the pillow.