Laser Cut Raccoon Portrait

Here's my latest fun little project. The other week, while sorting through my ever expanding library of woodworking magazines, I was absolutely blown away by the cover of the November 2007 issue of Creative Woodworks & Crafts. It showed an amazing scrollsaw image of two raccoons in a tree, cut with incredible precision and detail. So what's my first thought? Hey, I wonder if I can laser out that picture to fit an 8x10 frame. It wasn't easy, but here's the end result:

Since I was recreating this on a smaller scale, I needed to use a much thinner material than the recommended 1/4" stock. I decided on 1/32" (0.8mm) thin Baltic birch which was thin enough to mount into the 8x10 walnut frame you see above. Altogether, it took 1019 cuts to create the picture. After the laser cut the pieces, I still had to poke them all out since very few actually just fell out on their own. The title and corner decorations were also engraved directly onto the piece. The whole thing was then mounted into the frame with a nice black background behind it.

Even though I spent quite a few hours on it, I have to admit that I'm quite pleased with the results.

Full Sample Gallery on Webshots

To save time I decided to put together a sample gallery of some of our work. The easiest way for me to do this was to compose an album on Webshots, a popular picture and video hosting service. I've already uploaded 53 photos with more coming as new projects come our way.

Simply click on the picture below to view our sample gallery:


Faberas Laser Arts Gallery

Feel free to comment on any of the items you see.

Engraved Maple Burl Sign

This is my latest project. The rather large maple burl was supplied by a customer with the two channels already routed out. Due to the depth of the cut, there wasn't enough clearance for the laser head to clear the piece for engraving, so I decided instead to carve out and then engrave onto a couple of maple laminate pieces.

These pieces were shaped to match the burl patterns underneath (note the cutouts). I also matched the grain direction in both maple pieces. Once engraved and cut, they fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle. The whole project was then sealed in liquid acrylic since it would be displayed outdoors and needed to be weatherproof. It will look like new for many years.