Lori’s Laser Crafts is just one of the vendors you will have seen at The Kingdom 2023. We sat down to talk about how Lori got started in laser items.
There is something for everyone at Sasnak City events when it comes to the vendors. While clothing is a popular choice, Lori’s Laser Crafts is always popular. And yes, she was my first stop for The Last Kingdom map on the wooden boards to go with others that I have, including the Outlander one from her.
We sat own with Lori to discuss her work, including how she got started in general and how she ended up coming to a Sasnak City event as a vendor. You’ll get your items the next day at these events and they’re custom, so how does she do it?
Meet Lori from Lori’s Laser Crafts at The Kingdom 2023
Claire & Jamie: How did you get started with laser projects?
Lori’s Laser Crafts: I was bored. I was looking for something new. I started out with a Cricut machine, but I wasn’t happy with the finished product. So I just started googling what’s out there and I found the Glow Forge, which is a home laser.
Commerical grade lasers are huge, but this one is shrunken down. It takes two people to lift it, but you can put it in your house and vent it out of a window. All the fumes from the wood and the dust goes out the window to allow people to laser at home. I fell in love and I can take my creativity to come up with designs.
I gave items as gifts and then I started selling them. I started off as selling items for Christmas gifts.
C&J: And now you’re here at Sasnak City. How did you get started here?
Lori: I own another company, a security company, and Gina ’s family has been a security customer for years. I was at her house one day and she was telling me about Outlander. I didn’t know anything about it, but she said I’d love the show.
I started watching it during COVID. After that, Gina invited me to be a vendor at The Gathering and then to her other shows.
C&J: Did yo know about The Last Kingdom before doing this?
Lori: Nope! The girls here told me about The Last Kingdom. I fell in love with that too.
C&J: How many Sasnak City events have you done?
Lori: The first even was November 2020 right before my husband passed away. Then I did last year’s Outlander and The Last Kingdom, so two of each show. It seems like more. There was a one-day event last weekend, but I came as an attendee. She doesn’t have vendors at those events because there’s no enough time.
C&J: Which items did you start making first?
Lori: The keychain. They were small and easy to manipulate on the software. I was playing with how small I could get the engraving and the intricacy. You can make anything bigger, but going smaller sometimes distorts because the lines blend together.
I love the laser because you can get a very detailed fine print, like on the books. You can still read the small print.
C&J: You can do things overnight for attendees at these events, correct?
Lori: Oh yeah. They’ll be like “do you have this?” Then I’ll go out and look around to find it. One person asked if I could put a specific design on a journal for this show, and I had it ready this morning.
C&J: Does it get a bit stressful with the number of people who can come and ask for things overnight? You did the journal I asked for overnight as well.
Lori: No, during the events, I prepare my body. I know I’ll be up late. Like Friday night, I was up to 1:30. I have to wait on the machine and then move to the next item. I already have the items created and just have to resize them.
With yours, I just had to take the boat, stick the name with it, make the boat bigger for the journal, and the machine does the work. There’s no assembly required.
C&J: Is there a particular show that you’d love to do products for?
Lori: I would love to see Gina do the show Reign. I love that show. I’d also like to get into Comic-Con, but that’s huge. I haven’t really looked into it, but I think it would be fun to get into.
Check out Lori’s Laser Crafts to see the items she has available to buy.