I’ve been wanting to laser engrave a belt. Although lasered leather can be stinky, it usually turns out beautiful! I measured an existing belt that I owned to get an idea of the length I would need. I estimated that I would need to have the belt be at least 38" and about 1.5" tall. Conveniently, I found leather strips pre cut online! I considered recycling a circuit board, embedding it in resin, making a wild belt buckle, but I wanted this belt to be a practical, everyday wear kind of belt. So I ordered a simple gun metal belt buckle.
Next, I had to design my belt. I knew I wanted to do something with circuits, because I’m nerdy like that. I thought it would be a fun spin off of the typical leather belts with names engraved, but mine would be the futuristic, technology-loving version! I went to my favorite site for free fonts, dafont.com. After testing out a few, I settled on ‘Circuit Mage’. I felt like it would be the easiest to incorporate into an existing circuit board pattern. I realize it’s not a real circuit board pattern, but it is a pretty one! I love Inkscape and use it for designing everything; embroidery files, 3D files, even the circuit boards that I CNC!
I am fortunate in that I work at a Fab Lab. My Fab Lab has two CO2 laser cutters, an Epilog and Universal. I chose to use the 40W Universal laser for the engraving because it has the largest bed, 32 x 18". The experimental part of this project would be to create an Inkscape/SVG file for my 38" belt, and then split up the file into two separate laser files. I would have to pick up & move the leather to get the rest of the design engraved. I knew this would be difficult, so I experimented with a strip of thin chip board.
In my Inkscape file, I measured everything to exactly fit onto the bed. What I hadn’t accounted for was how the leather would be out of focus when it draped over the edge of the laser’s bed! I used the snapping guides in Inkscape to align my design, but I still had to slightly shift my file over a few mm.
I love using these refillable markers when I apply dye to leather items. It keeps me from dripping dye everywhere, and doesn’t leave fibers on the surface!
The color came out a little darker than expected, but I like it, the pattern is more subtle, less loud and busy! I shaved off some of the leather in the fold, so it wouldn’t be so bulky. I used waxed thread to stitch the fold down.
I still need to burnish the edges and seal the inner leather, but so far I am really pleased with how it turned out. I look forward to lasering more leather projects soon!
