Illustrator and the Laser Cutter: Brainstorming and Ideation

I decided to start my journey by looking up photos of the different capabilities and existing projects that people have made with laser cutters. These are some of the ideas that gave me inspiration for the range of the project:

Right away the first thing that caught my eye was the gear piece. It reminded me of a toy I used to play with as a child where you would build different arrangements of gears. So I decided that would be a fun idea to run with. I also like the wood items that are engraved with photos and the 3d shapes. Sadly this week my computer has been acting up and the parts to fix it don’t come until Monday so I can’t draw much, instead I pulled inspirational photos and tried to describe my ideas as well as I could along with one drawing.

Idea 1: Gears?

The idea would be some sort of base with, hopefully, moveable gears. The number of gears is less important but hopefully at least 3.

Idea 2: Puzzle

I personally am a big fan of doing puzzles on my own. I don’t feel I need to draw a sketch of this one, it’s pretty self explanatory. I would design a puzzle with fun edges to be cut and make an interesting picture to be engraved on top of it.

Idea 3: Puzzle Box or shape

This idea is similar to the puzzle idea but in 3D form. In some sort of a shape, square or maybe more sides, I would make edges that fit together and different drawings or engravings for each side. Maybe if I have the time I would make a series of them. It would be fun to put things inside them or use them as decoration.