Another successful niche for the Laser!

[Paul Phillips]

A few months ago I helped a friend of mine purchase a new laser for her business so I thought I would post her info here for those that are interested. She does traditional Mexican hand cut paper decorations for weddings and celebrations called "Papel Picado". She was doing so much work by hand that she decided to look at using a laser to help add to her offerings, she came by the shop and we cut some samples and she was sold, so she bought a 30w Versalaser from Mike MacKenzie and has been doing very well with it as a full time business. I just think it's interesting to see what others do with their lasers that are for one specific purpose although I'm sure she will discover other uses as well.
Enjoy.

http://aymujershop.wordpress.com/about-2/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/aymujer?ref=si_shop

paper2.jpg

[Frank barry]

Wow thanks for sharing that it is so interesting to see the amazing work people can do
It is amazing what you can do when you think outside the box

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

Beautiful work. Your friend has talent!

[Dan Hintz]

Dear God, she did that by HAND before?!

She'd probably improve her throughput 10 fold (no pun intended) if she stepped up to a galvo unit.

[Paul Phillips]

Dan, yeah, hard to believe huh? All done with an X-acto knife by hand, she says now she has alot more time to design and let's her husband run the laser.

[Chuck Stone]

that's pretty amazing! Nice work

[Andrea Weissenseel]

this is so beautiful! Then again, it is very special because it is handmade - and that's what makes the niche - IMHO

[Dee Gallo]

Thanks for posting, I love to hear and see what people have found their lasers can do for them in small niche markets! Your friend must be grateful for your help, she has got to be doing a lot less work now! I know I replaced my hand carving with laser carving and boy it made life a lot easier. Her designs are very nice intricate pieces too!

cheers, dee

[Phil Thien]

Amazing work!

Anyone have any idea how long it would take to hand-cut something like those wedding flags?

These:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/12052903...e-flags-1-doz?

Vs. how long it takes the laser to do each one?

[Mike Null]

Paul

Invite your friend to Sawmill Creek. She and Jit Patel have a lot in common. If you're not familiar with his work just do a search of his name.

[Mike Null]

Phil

Like many things with a laser, the time is in creating the artwork. I'd guess that that could be cut in less than a minute on a laser but she cuts 20 at a time using tissue paper. I imagine on 3 or 4 at a time by hand with somewhat thicker paper.

[Paul Phillips]

Yeah I did invite her but she is so busy focusing on her business that's all she has time for, I'm happy for her success though. She told me that she still does some of the hand cut ones upon request, not sure how long it takes her but she has so many orders to fill that she's keeping the laser running all the time, and she says that it's freed her up to do more design work which is what she love's most as an artist, she has lot's of Corel experience since she used to work with me at the sign shop, she was one of our designers. She also said her hands don't hurt anymore!
I will let her know I posted this though so she can see all the nice things people have said.
Thanks,
Paul

[Jiten Patel]

Great work and a fantastic niche! We've worked with some paper cut artists before to mass produce some of their wares. They are quite quick (obviously with plenty of practice). I had a go when I was with one and she showed me the ropes, my hand cramped so fast, I managed about half and she finished around 4-5 pieces....naturally, I showed her my laser and it did around 30 while she finished 1....take that!!! Muchos respect to hand-cut for a living. If you want see something amazing - check out this hand cutting! Incredible!

41.jpgtumblr_lztaiwKRV31r0lpsto1_1280.jpgvortex-1.jpg

[Jesse Anderson]

Those look pretty nice. I did some stuff with my laser a few months back. It helps to find a black and white image on google or yahoo. Then u can convert it to BitMap. Then convert the bitmap to line drawing. Then line drawing do a Trace with a hair line. It takes allot of the work out of designing a pattern from scratch using freehand mouse and design tools. U can also add your own images in. Just find the image ,Just use the same process i explained. Then u can edit your hairline traced image into your design with the virtual segment delete tool. Virtual segment delete is the best tool that i have ever used.

[Mohammed Issa]

hey Paul, how are you dealing with the scorching of the paper when your cutting it with the laser?