Some of you may wonder why a textile artist like myself would be so gung ho about the Rezo laser. I have many intentions relative to substrates/mediums I plan to cut, etch, and engrave with this laser but my primary want from it is to cut fabric…but not how you might think. Oh sure, it will be great for apparel patterns I make on repeat with that enormous cutting field, but in truth the most challenging aspect of what I do lies in the hand cutting of extremely small, raw edged (not enclosed in seams) shapes with which I compose my art. I need hundreds of them for a single piece of art and at 58, that repetition grows more challenging every year.

We began our laser search hoping to buy something off the shelf, even sending fabric samples to some purveyors to cut with lasers that would fit through the doors to our house. They ghosted us, unable to render clean cuts on white fabrics. What I mean by that is edges that are not charred/brown/tea stained that would ultimately ruin the clarity and vibrancy of the colors I use. Their higher powered lasers may have done the job but they wouldn’t fit through the door so they weren’t even an option. That’s how we arrived at Rezo. Here are some photos to give you a sense of scale for the shapes in talking about. When the laser is done I am anxious to create some mosaics out of 1/2” squares, raw edges.

So while you can be sure that I’ll want to work with wood, metal, stone, glass, acrylic, and anything else it will tackle safely, these teeny, tiny shards are my primary cause for excitement! If anyone out there has good experience with cutting 100% cotton, the lighter in color the better, without charring or browning of the edges I’d love it if you’d share the settings you used, what chiller and compressor you were using, anything relevant to the success of those cuts. I’m getting ahead of myself but I’m all ears!