If Dr. Evil Made Jewelry, Would He Use A Laser?

When I read about a class where you could learn how to make jewelry with a laser cutter, I had to give it a try.  Not that I know much about this <ahem> cutting edge technique.

My limited expertise on lasers comes from a few people I know who have had laser surgery,  watching a friend run a laser light show years ago at the Sheraton Valley Forge, and from the Austin Powers movies in which the villain, Dr. Evil, tries to take over the world with an army of sharks who have laser beams attached to their heads.  He fails and the sharks  look uncomfortable.

The Intro to Lasercut Jewelry class was sponsored by the incredible and wonderful  DEPARTMENT OF MAKING + DOING and was held at their workshop in West Philadelphia.

There was a laptop computer all ready for each us. No waiting!

Teacher Emily Cobb showed us how to use Adobe Illustrator to alter design motifs from the Internet (or to create our own) and to  integrate them into a design.

Here’s my design on my computer.  Most of the people in the class decided to make brooches and earrings, but I thought it would be fun to try a bangle bracelet.

Here’s the laser cutter.

After an assistant fed your design into a computer attached to the cutter, you could watch the laser do its work.

You could tell the program to “etch” the material or to cut it out.

We used wood and plexiglass.

Here’s my bracelet as it is being cut out.

The bracelet after it came out of the laser cutter.  The edges were sharp and in need of sanding.

Here is the finished bracelet with gently beveled edges.  Check out some more work from the class here.  Thanks to Emily Cobb who is a wonderful teacher and to  DM+D Philly.