Supply orders

Well, I just got off the phone after making three large supply orders for the approaching Stock Show.  As soon as the ton of wood and other parts arrive, it'll be all laser, all the time for the next couple of weeks leading up to the event.  There is quite a bit of software editing I need to do in getting files prepped to print, so that should keep me busy until our orders get here.  And we do still have some leftovers from our last supply orders that I can use up. 

There is still so much to get done.  The biggest concern is that we need to get cracking on a design for our booth.  To date we've only attended two (small) events where we offered laser goods for sale. 

The space we used was less than half a table at the first one..

...and a full table at the second one.

They were shared events, the real focus at the event was the model horse show going on.  We just had a sales table, in addition to model horses for display and show. 

Coming up we have a full on Trade Show where we have an 8'x8' booth to fill.  I want us to have a nice setup, but as of right now we have nothing, except the laser-cut holders that Jeff made for our first events.  We will probably do more of those - they are a great and space efficient way to hold a lot of pieces, plus they allow people to flip through and look at all of the designs. 

However, we also want to have a lot of things hanging up, to catch people's eye, and to be able to display more designs.  Being trade show newbies means we have nothing readily available.  I know there are companies that make "trade show displays" but 1) I'm not sure we want to spend the money on them and 2) I'm not sure we have time to get something like that ordered.  Also, this will probably be the only big event that we go to for the foreseeable future, so do we really want some sort of huge display racks kicking around the rest of the year?  I am going to do some investigating though. 

I think maybe we will end up trying to fabricate something - after all, we have a LASER cutter! - but I don't want our booth to look cobbled together either.  We'll see...  I'm going to investigate some ready-made options today and if that doesn't seem like it will work, then we need to get busy on designing our own display racks/stands.

So much to do!

Lasering the day away

The Black Hills Stock Show is fast approaching and there is a lot to be done.

Today I am working on dialing in the settings on our laser, hoping to maximize output and minimize time spent.  I've done this before, but we recently did a deep clean of the machine along with some recommended extended maintenance and I'm curious to see if we can get better performance out of it than what we've been seeing lately.  So far so good.

Working on some desktop tributes

At the Stock Show, the primary items we'll have on display will be the wooden tributes and ornaments, though we are hoping to have some new products developed and ready by then as well.  Both Jeff and I are overflowing with ideas of things to make and pretty much the only limits are our imagination. 

Though we are slightly limited by the size of our machine - it has a 12 x 24 inch table - but there are many people out there who think "outside the box".  They make much larger items by lasering smaller pieces and then assembling them together to make something huge.  I'm sure at some point we'll experiment with similar challenges.

For now, it's all smaller scale woodworking, all the time!

Welcome to our blog

Welcome to the brand new blog for Cut By Light, LLC. 

We are a small laser cutting and engraving service, based out of western South Dakota.

The machine we have allows us to work with a variety of different materials: wood, glass, plastic, acrylic, paper, cardboard, and some metal (etching only).

Our introductory product line is a series of wooden tributes and ornaments, celebrating a love of dogs and horses.  We have a wide variety of dog and horse breeds and horseback scenes available.    All items can be fully personalized with text or even engraved pictures.

Wall Tribute - American Staffordshire Terrier

Desktop Tribute - Barrel Racer custom

Ornament - Greyhound

The biggest news to start off 2015 is that we will have a vendor booth at the 2015 Black Hills Stock Show.  We are hard at work preparing for our debut at a major trade show.

Feel free to contact us if there's anything you think we can help you with.  Our e-mail address is: customerservice@cutbylight.com

You can also find us on Facebook here:  Cut By Light LLC on Facebook

And be sure to stay tuned to this blog as we share our journey into the exciting world of laser cutting and engraving!