Back Story

Jewelry making as a decorative art has been around for thousands of years, and it continues to influence today’s fashion world. With CO2 laser engraving and cutting becoming more popular in recent years, many DIY crafters and small businesses have adopted this practice for jewelry making. Back in the day, it used to take quite a lot of time, effort, and resources to create a timeless piece of jewelry. But CO2 laser cutters have shortened the production time — you just have to put time and effort into creating great designs in various software programs. Acquiring a laser cutting machine can turn your jewelry hobby into a small business. Plus, these machines are capable of engraving various materials of different shapes and sizes.

Another advantage of using a laser cutting machine for jewelry making is greater precision and versatility. These machines allow jewelry designers to produce complex shapes that were previously impossible to achieve by conventional cutting methods. The best part? Learning how to make laser-cut jewelry at home is a lot easier than you might think! Today, I’ll give you a step-by-step approach and guidelines to follow while making jewelry with a laser cutting machine.

Steps to Take

Design with the right software:

Laser cutting software is crucial to your machine, as it translates your vector files into the control board. Vector files are computer graphics essential for laser cutting that unlock endless design personalization. It is highly customizable with vast options of lines, curves, polygons, and sizes. Learning how to take advantage of all the design functions will allow your creativity to shine. It is also very important to learn how to convert them to the correct file. Laser cutters from companies like OMTech use common files such as .jpeg, .png, .bmp .ai, .eps, .dxf and other vector file types.

Scale your design:

Once your design is in the correct format, the next step is to scale it correctly for your laser cutting machine. This implies that you must make sure the unit of measurement used in the design is the exact same one you want to be cut. Failure to do this might result in the wrong scale or proportion of the artwork to the material, which will lead to waste of material and laser tube life.

Connect your design:

Bridging your design is as important as the design itself as it will determine the outcome of your cut. As a designer, the “bridge” function will help you keep your design in one piece. Shapes could be lost if you do not keep them attached to the base component of the design. By using the bridge function, the laser will cut more neatly, and the design will come out better without missing any detail.

Convert your text into shapes:

Another mistake you should avoid is failing to convert a text design into a shape. Laser cutters cannot process active text boxes. Converting these into shapes will allow the laser cutter to process them properly.

Ensure your cutouts are large enough:

Another note to take while laser cutting — always match the thickness of your design to the thickness of the material. Any inconsistencies will result in failed designs and a waste of material.

Get rid of all intersecting lines and open shapes:

If your design is complex and has any kind of an overlap, you will need to remove those overlapping lines. This will prevent the laser cutter from cutting any unnecessary lines into your design. Also, ensure that all designs are complete, as open and unfinished shapes will not be successfully cut.

Reduce the complexity of your design:

To prevent overlapping lines, as stated earlier, try as much as you can to reduce the complexity of your design. Simplistic and convenient designs will require less testing and minimize the costs for you and your machine.

Choose the right material:

It is crucial to choose the right material that will best fit your design. From observation, most jewelry is made with glass, acrylic, and wood. These materials are compatible with a CO2 laser cutter. The next step is choosing the right settings for your material. But bear in mind that laser settings are not definite or rigid; you would only find the best setting for your material by trial and error. OMTech provides their suggested settings on various materials through their website.

Adding color to your jewelry:

You can further customize your jewelry by adding color to your designs. Acrylic-plexiglass sheets are available in a wide range of colors — pair different shades together to bring colorful configurations to your artistic arrangements. If you’re focused on engraved glass ornaments and jewelry, enamel paints offer smooth application, rapid drying, and long-lasting performance on glass surfaces.

Wood is also becoming more popular in the custom jewelry world. It can be colored with acrylic paints to create almost any design you can imagine. Another benefit of wood jewelry is that it can be enhanced with certain stains and finishes to display the organic wood grain, and you can change the look by painting or staining before or after the laser engraving/cutting process. There are many different shades of wood-color stains available as well as various finishes like matte, satin, or gloss. Just make sure to find jewelry-specific materials because some stains and varnishes have a strong smell.

Conclusion

Knowing how to use a laser cutting machine for jewelry is not as complicated as you might think; it simply requires you to pay attention to the small details. Through a bit of time and patience, you can cut your jewelry ideas into reality. If you are a hobbyist or a small business owner, OMTech has been a one-stop-shop for the laser engraving community. They offer the best value for your money with outstanding after-sales service and other resources. Their product line is diverse, so there is something for everybody depending on your budget and goals.
Check them out today and begin your laser engraving journey!