Art Deco Luggage Tags - Laser Cut

by alinke

2.7K140

Intro: Art Deco Luggage Tags - Laser Cut

Parts

Included are the source files for the front and back of the luggage tags in Adobe Illustrator format or .SVG format if you don't have Illustrator. The free Art Deco font, Andes, is quite nice, download and install the Andes font here and then modify the files with your names and numbers.

STEP 1: Laser Cutting the Tags


Cut the front part of the design first and set your laser to cut the outside outlines of the tags, raster engrave the font, and score/vector engrave the deco lines. I have a Glowforge laser cutter so the attached .SVG files will go fine with the Glowforge, you'll need to edit the files and change line colors if using a different laser (Epilog, Universal, etc.) or the laser cutting service from Ponoko. If using a Glowforge, don't forget to set the deco lines layer to "Score" as the default will be "Cut". I used the Medium Maple Plywood pre-certified material from Glowforge which is 1/8" thick.

Included are two luggage tag designs, one with two holes and a one with a traditional single, oval shaped luggage tag hole cut-out. The two hole design with the leather cord looks nicer but I'm not sure if the leather will survive an actual trip and if you need to make a lot of them as I did, then go for the oval hole cut-out and use the 6" pre-made luggage tag loops.

After cutting the front side, flip over the tags and score/vector engrave the airplane design on the back side of the tags. If you're making a lot of tags, then use the cut-outs from the front side cut as the jig for the back side score/vector engrave. If using the Glowforge, note at the time of this writing that the camera accuracy of the preview vs. the actual cut is unfortunately not precise, I experienced a variation of 1mm - 3 mm so you'll probably want to use a jig for the back cut regardless.

Apply 3 layers of lacquer to each side after cutting.