Make Cute Car Charms for Moms with Your Laser Cutter
Laser cutting is a great way to create personalized gifts for friends and family. This tutorial will walk you through the process of using our laser-cutting files to make car charms for your mom.
Make Cute Car Charms for Moms with Your Laser Cutter
If you weren’t familiar, we have a laser cutting subscription program. Members get access to many of our files months early before going on sale to the public, and this laser file set, for mother’s day was one of them we released in March. Now it’s available to you!
You can purchase this laser file for making these cute car charms for moms with your laser cutter.
Watch How to Make Cute Car Charms for Moms with Your Laser Cutter
Steps to Make Car Charms for Moms with Your Laser Cutter
Most people will be able to use the SVG file as-is.
I am using 1/8 materials, specifically Maple. I purchase my Maple from Home Depot online.
I always paint or stain my materials first and then mask them before cutting.
- You’ll note in this video, I cut based on colors because I have pre-painted and stained pieces. Follow along, or do the following:
- Start by dragging the files into your app. I’m using the Glowforge app, but you can use other laser cutting applications and follow along.
- Rearrange the layers to set up the steps in the order they need to be created. I have indicated my color-coding system for layers in the instructions PDF file.
- There is a scoring layer you should run first. I always run-scoring, engraving, and minor cuts before cutting the larger shapes. The reason is this will keep things from shifting around. Many of my backers have a red scoring layer for the details to know where to glue them down.
- Next, you’ll note I have engraved the vines and florals on the backers. These will take a bit of time to run, but they are oh so beautiful when done. Did you know you can use a borax solution to make them engrave darker? Just mix one teaspoon of borax in a pint of water. Then, mix well. Spray onto the surface and engrave.
- Then you can cut out all of the pieces. Using a 3M adhesive on more minor details like letters saves you so much headache from messy glue.
Assembling the Car Charms for Moms
- Each step is pretty simple. Use the scoring on the backers to know where to glue down things following my video instructions.
- Then, using some jute, simply fold in half, put the fold into the hole, and pull the ends through. I do this once, add a wooden bead (affiliate link) and then do a knot at the top. I leave these long and untied for my customer, so they can tie them to fit best for their car mirrors.
And here are some pictures these car charms I made with my Glowforge.
Show Us Your Laser Work!
Be sure to share your work with us on our Facebook Group. We’d love to see it. And, if you want files like this before the public, consider joining our subscription program. This file was launched in March to our paid subscribers but only became available to the public this month.
Want to save on a Glowforge? Use my affiliate link. You can get $500 off a Pro model and $250 off of a Plus model when you use this link. I get the same amount in return to use on materials, and I have loved using my Glowforge!