Introduction: Laser Etched / Laser Cut Business Cards

By osloom
About: Margarita Benitez is an art + technology and fiber artist based in Kent, OH + Miami, FL. She is interested in the explorations of art within the making and DIY culture. Her work is rooted in exploring underlyi…

This is an easy method to create your own Laser Etched / Laser Cut Business Cards (like the one seen in the picture.) The method uses a raster engrave for the text on the card and then a vector cut to remove the individual card from the larger piece of cardboard.

Step 1:

The most important thing to note in making your cards is the choice of cardboard.

This method will only work if the color of the interior layers of cardboard is different than the color of the exterior layers of cardboard. For my card I chose cardboard that had a bright pink (fuschia) exterior color and a light brown interior color. By looking at the edge of the cardboard you can see that there are layers of light brown (interior) sandwiched by layers of pink (exterior).

Step 2:

Create your laser cutting file in Illustrator (or whatever software your laser cutter uses.) You should experiment with the font choice for your business card design. I tested a couple of different fonts before I decided on a final font version. Once you decide on a font ensure that you create outlines of the font image (in case the computer you send the file from to the laser cutter doesn’t have the font you used.) Remember, raster engrave the text and vector cut the card out.

Step 3:

Cut a test card using the settings for your specific laser cutter. Make sure to look at the back and see how singed the back is. If it has laser cut marks you may want to either lightly tape the back of the cardboard or put an underlying material to protect the backs of the cards. Ultimately you may require a couple of tests to get the right settings on the raster engraving and the vector cut. Once you have those setting right though, you can crank a full sheet of custom laser etched / laser cut business cards in no time! I was able to get 56 cards out of one sheet of cardboard! Happy laser-ing!!!