I Made Custom Bookmarks at the TechShop

by heavensentcrafts in Workshop > Laser Cutting

1419 Views, 5 Favorites, 0 Comments

I Made Custom Bookmarks at the TechShop

007.JPG
006.JPG
My ladies bible study adopted a word this session "Recalculate".  It's related to a car navigation system.  When your driving and you make a wrong turn your system doesn't start yelling at you an panicing.  Neither does God.  It just says "Recalculate".  We all could relate to times in our lives where we needed to recalculate and go in a different direction. 

We decided we wanted to get a bookmark with recalculate on it.  I volunteered to make them at the techshop.
www.techshop.ws

I had shared with the ladies how I had overcome my intimidation of the machines and used the laser cutter.  I often repeated to myself while taking the class and using the machine "I have the mind of Christ."  "I have a spirit of a sound mind"  So I know they will treasure this simple project.

Learn about the techshop at www.techshop.com

008.JPG
004.JPG
Step one I took the Vinyl Cutter Class at the TechShop.  As I often try to do I booked time on the Vinyl Cutter right after the class to practice use the machine to help me remember what I learned in the class.  I really need hands on and to make several mistakes to feel comfortable on these machines.

I made the template in Corel Draw and asked for help to put it in a file that the Vinyl Cutter could read. 

Then I printed out several copies of Recalculate.  I weeded them then put the release paper over top of the word.

003.JPG
002.JPG
Next it was on to the laser cutter to make the background paper for the bookmarks.

I started in corel draw and made a shape around the letters to the word "Recalculate"  I did this by taking simple shapes and welding them together.  I did this right over the word I had made to get the exact shape I wanted.

I asked for help in what to set the machine at for cutting cardstock.  I then pushed print and nothing happened.  I again asked for help and found I didn't put my drawing in hairline.  Once I did that I cut the paper with no problem.

005.JPG
006.JPG
The last step is to stick the vinyl sticker on my back ground paper. 

Paper and stickers I know quite well so that was the easy part.  I didn't need to ask for any help then.

I'm happy with the result and can't wait to share the bookmarks.