Laser-Cut Buttons

I love to crochet, especially hats. And sometimes I like to put buttons on my hats. I decided to laser-cut some custom buttons for my hats and crocheted goodies. 
 

Using Adobe Illustrator, I drew my button design. I decided to have a wren wearing a hat with a pom-pom. The wren has made many appearances in my crocheted works (put a bird on it!) and was even the inspiration for a business logo (www.etsy.com/shop/theswedishwren). The bird logo would be etched into the button. I also decided to do a simple 2-hole button instead of a 4-hole button. 

I designed 3 different button sizes - 1", 0.85" and 0.7" (in diameter). 
 



 

I wanted the buttons to be made of a beautiful hardwood, so I decided on walnut. I also wanted the buttons to be 1/8" thick. Many types of wood would work well for this, including plywood. Acrylic is also a fun option - buttons don't have to be wood! Experimenting with different button thicknesses would be fun too. 

Using some scrap 1/4" walnut remnants from a previous project, I planed the wood down to 1/8". I also used a bit of 1/8" plywood to cut practice buttons on - to make sure I was happy with my design. 

 

The laser cutter I used was an Epilog Legend 36EXT 120Watt. Before cutting buttons on the nice walnut, I ran a couple test cuts on some scrap 1/8" plywood. This allowed me to check out my design and make sure I was happy with the way it looked and the size of each button. Once I was satisfied, I moved onto laser cutting the walnut. I also tried cutting a few acrylic buttons just for fun. 

The settings that worked best for me were:

WALNUT:
Raster Settings                         
Speed: 50                                  
Power: 32
Vector Settings
Speed: 60
Power: 82
Frequency: 500

PLYWOOD:
Raster Settings
Speed: 55
Power: 35
Vector Settings
Speed: 60
Power: 65
Frequency: 500

ACRYLIC:
Raster Settings
Speed: 50
Power: 35
Vector Settings
Speed:45
Power: 90
Frequency: 5000

Remember that all laser cutters aren't the same, therefore my settings might not be the best for every machine. It takes a little practice and trial/error until you have just the right settings for your material and machine, so be patient! 

You could use your buttons almost anywhere! On pants, shirts, hats, scarves...the list goes on and on. I crocheted an iPhone sleeve and used one of my buttons to keep it closed.

Get crafty!