Glowforge released an Ear Saver file so folk could laser cut their own ear savers, but I thought the design needed to be cuter! I updated the file to have little bunnies, kitties, hearts, and smilies for that personal touch. Sometimes it is the smallest thing that brings good cheer. Wearing a mask is so impersonal. This small piece of plastic will make you stand out, and it might even bring a little bit of joy to those who see it.
I offer the .svg file for FREE so you can laser cut your own Cute Ear Savers! The file is in color because Glowforge sees color, but you can use any laser cutter. Here are the score/cut steps in order:
Glowforge Laser Cutter instructions for JEMTOY Cute Ear Savers: Cut from 1/8″ thick Acrylic Step 1: Blue = Score Step 2: Red = Cut Step 3: Black = Cut
The bird feeder is a simple open tray with a perch. Lots of room to paint and customize. First I primed and painted the bird feeder barn red. Then once that dried I used Elmer’s Painter Pens to add flowers.
I like to outline graphic images in black to make them pop, but outlining takes so much time. My trick is to draw the stems and flowers first in a thick black paint pen or Sharpie and let it dry. Then I draw the green stems, leaves and pink flowers over the black. I leave the outer edge of the black as a nice shadow outline so it all reads from a distance. No tiny outlining detail brush required!
I suggest using a water proof paint such as acrylic. If you like the wood look, you can weather proof your bird feeder by spraying it top to bottom with clear acrylic spray on paint. I don’t like spray urethane because it often remains tacky and leaves fingerprints and attracts dust. Gross. Be sure to get a crystal clear paint of some sort but look to avoid the polyurethane based sprays if you can.
Glowforge Settings and cut order for SVG: Step 1: Blue=Cut / 2: Black=Cut / 3: Red=Cut
How to build the JEMTOY Bird Feeder
I suggest putting the whole thing together without glue so you are sure where everything goes. The railing around the tray can be a bit tricky. Once you have everything set, go back and glue it all together. NOTE: I have recently added 8 little holes so the Bottom drains when it rains.
First slide the Perch into the big circular opening in the main Top piece. The slot of the Perch will slide down and nest in place in the little notch on the bottom of the circular opening. This will create an X shape.
The X you just created has four square hooks at its base. The four hooks push through the 4 rectangular holes in the Bottom piece.
From under the Bottom, slide and glue the 4 loose Tabs into the hooks to catch and lock the X in place.
The railing around the tray is made up of 6 rectangles. The 2 long pieces are the front and back.
The short ones are the sides. Look at the 4 short sides carefully and pair them with their exact double. Keep them together. Let one side of the bird feeder be set A, the other set B.
The B sides have one end where the tabs are offset. The offset tabs connect into the Top piece when gluing the sides onto the tray. Glue all the tabs and holes, complete the railing, and let it all dry.
This is an update to a classic practical joke I loved as a kid. My grandfather used to keep a small yellow envelope that had ‘Rattlesnake Eggs’ written on it inside the door of his refrigerator. It was there to freak out anyone who visited his home. If you got curious enough to open the yellow envelope of rattlesnake eggs, you would be frightened by the loud spinning button mechanism inside.
The envelope contained a simple device. First a paper clip was straightened out and bent into a V shape with a loop bent in each end. Two rubber bands were threaded through the hole of a metal washer. The rubber band was stretched across the wire loops of the wire V. My grandfather would spin the button until the rubber band was wound tight, then he would slip it carefully inside the envelope. Once he closed the flap on the envelope, the button could not spin until opened by some innocent bystander. When opened, the button would make such a loud vibrating sound, it often got tossed across the room in fright. People were convinced rattlesnakes had hatched inside the envelope!
Grampy even put a few dry beans in the envelope so there were ‘snake eggs’ rolling around inside the envelope, because the curious would often shake it before they open it. Once they heard the eggs rolling around, they were even more curious to see them.
What I have done is design a little wood box with a lid. When you open the lid, the button spins and rattles. It’s a fun prank gift. There’s even little fake eggs to put in there so they make a sound if the box is shook. This is a fun Glowforge laser cutter project you can make at home using 1/8″ thick Proof Grade Medium Plywood for best sound. Put a box of delicious Rattlesnake Eggs on your kitchen counter and see who opens it first.
Here is a favorite all the kids love. A rubber band gun. Everyone immediately recognizes the clothespin spring and it’s fun to shoot rubber bands at stacked paper cups or other targets.
I offer my SVG vector designs for laser cutting on a Glowforge or other laser cutter. If you want a simple project that is tons of fun, this is it. All you need is access to a Glowforge laser cutter, some 1/8″ thick Proof Grade Medium MDF or Plywood, a clothespin, and a few rubber bands as ammo.
Carefully remove the clothespin spring. Don’t bend it out of shape, and don’t get your finger pinched when removing it. Slide the spring out of the clothespin, and set it aside for now.
There are 6 pieces with 5 clips to hold it all together. The front has 3 parts, and the back has 3 parts. They stack like a sandwich. The middle pieces are the parts without stars.
Stack the three front parts, line them up, then insert the clips in place into the 3 clip slots. I found it easiest to start inside the handle. The clips are very tight. You must squeeze and line everything up for the clips to push down and lock it all together. You’ll feel it when it goes in place.
Do the same thing for the handle. Clip the 2 slots. Now you only need to add the spring.
Slide the open end of the spring down into the hole on the front piece as in photo above. Now pull the spring outward just enough to slip the other end into the hole in the handle.
How to shoot: The nose of the rubber band gun has a hook. Snag a rubber band onto this hook, and pull the rubber band back. Squeeze the handle to open the top. Close the top so it just captures the rubber band in place. When you squeeze it open, the rubber band will shoot.
This toy is so much fun it requires parental supervision. Please teach your kids not to shoot at people or pets. Have fun! Create a mini shooting gallery with stacks of paper cups or other home made targets.
My Udemy course, Learn Inkscape For Glowforge has been a great success, so I wanted to offer my students fun projects they can download and cut on their Glowforge laser cutter.
My first offering is the Q-Tip Crossbow. Would you like to make a toy crossbow that shoots cotton swabs? Of course you do! All you need is access to a Glowforge laser cutter, 1/8″ thick Proof Grade Medium Plywood, sand paper, glue, 3 rubber bands, and lots of cotton swabs to blast around the room as ammo.
My course includes the crossbow.svg file designed in color to properly separate layers for cutting on a Glowforge. You’ll get detailed video instructions, a troubleshooting guide, and supplemental photos to help you along. It’s a slam dunk.
This project is intended for folk age 15+ because it’s a working mini crossbow made with lots of small parts. Anything this fun requires parental supervision. Kids love this project because it feels slightly dangerous. They love to build it, take it apart, replace the rubber bands. Be a hero – share this project with a kid… but remind them to not shoot it at people or pets.
If you are new to laser cutting, I suggest that you check out my first course, Learn Inkscape For Glowforge. Once you get through that and understand the process and lingo, move on to the JEMTOY laser projects I offer. You will learn tons, and have fun while doing it.
Kaijina the Bug Girl encased in wood or plastic. Hand cast resin toy in laser cut clear acrylic shipment container, or wood crate. Kaijina the Bug Girl is a mail order bride for your Kaiju monster collection. I mean, even Frankenstein’s creature had a bride! If you love your monsters, you won’t let them go lonely. You’ll get them their very own Kaijina the Bug Girl, and everyone will be happy.
Learn how to design for Glowforge laser cutter with me, Jay from JEMTOY. I have made another arts and crafts video tutorial for you all. This is a 10 lesson course that will teach you Inkscape for Glowforge in a single afternoon. After this course you will be able to start your own Etsy shop or other home business.
If you have access to a Glowforge laser cutter I can teach you the essentials to get you started using it. The possibilities are endless, and knowing how to run a laser cutter is a valuable skill set to have.
If you are looking to get a Glowforge, I got a referral link when I purchased mine. If you use this link you get up to $500 off, and I get free wood from the Glowforge supply shop. It’s a great deal for us both.
My course starts out with a Glowforge Template that I provide as a download. I will teach you the 3 most important Inkscape tools, how to set the colors in your design to separate the Engrave, Score, and Cut functions within the Glowforge app. How to create objects with multiple pieces. We will learn how to cut out words, names, and numbers. We will prepare photos and images for laser engraving, and use fills to create images to be scored or engraved.
By the end of this course your head will be spinning with the possibilities. In just 90 minutes time your life will have been changed for the better. I believe there are two possible futures. There is the you who took this course and prospered, and the you that did not. Which one do you want to be?
Check out my Udemy course titled: Inkscape for Glowforge and get ready to have some laser cuttin’ good times!
Here’s a fun way to turn common trash into a fun toy. We all know those little square plastic bread tabs that keep plastic bags closed. This is an easy project anyone can make at home. All you need is a hard wood stick from outside. A 3/4″ maple or oak branch off the ground will do. Other than that, all you need is a few bread tabs as ammo, and a saw to cut the branch. Sandpaper 100 grit is good to make it all finished and feel smooth.
You can use pretty much any type of saw, from electric jig saw to a hack saw. Just a couple swipes is all you need to make a shallow cut groove. You want the groove to be deep enough to catch the bread tab when under pressure, but not so deep it doesn’t shoot forward when released. If you cut your groove too deep, cut the branch off and cut another groove until it works. I angled my cut slightly forward to help it release and shoot.
This is a fun toy because it’s slightly dangerous. Please do not aim or shoot at people or pets. Don’t put an eye out, because that’s when the fun stops! If your bread tabs are the type with bumps on each edge, use scissors or tin snips and cut the little bumps away so each edge is straight and fits easily into the groove.
Watch how I made the Wiggly Loaf House: from designing it on Inkscape to cutting it on Glowforge and gluing all the pieces together. You can win this house if you are hardcore enough to play the Wiggly Loaf game until you unlock at least one of the bonus characters. It’s a free download for iOS or Android phones. Check out WigglyLoaf.com and click on Contest. Good luck and enjoy the game!
I love dice! Until someone throws them right off the tabletop and the dice get lost. This made me wonder if I could come up with variations to the way we traditionally depict dice. For that, I turned to Inkscape, the Glowforge Laser Cutter, and my imagination.
Interested in a Glowforge of your own? Save $500 when you purchase a Glowforge through this link: https://glowforge.us/m/TELJNVZZ
