Drawing with fire: The art of laser cutting paper

This paper explores some of the laser cutting methods used by artists, in particular from an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project (Paper Models: investigating laser-cutting technology to develop new artists' books and paper-based creative practice for arts, crafts and design, March 2010-October 2010). The project explored and demonstrated the potential of the laser cutter as a creative tool in terms of design, structure and construction for the produciton of artists' books and paper-based works.As the technology has become more affordable, laser cutters are now a regular feature within education establishments in the Western world and becomming readily available to artists wishing to explore the subject futher. One major potential of the laser cutter as a tool for artists working with the book form and paper-based artworks is that it can replace the need for labour-intensive manipulation of paper and card by hand. Artists have throughout history adapted industrial and/or digital technologies to work with creatively, as evidenced by the relatively recent use of digital printing to create artists' books and prints, but cn they see the longer term potential of laser cutting as part of their armoury?The possibility of using the laser as a tool for cutting, scoring, perforating and engraving paper is as yet under-utilised by many book and paper artists. Many of these aritsts use hand-cutting and scoring in their work, unawarre that laser cutters can assist. Not that the laser need replace the handcrafted element; rather, it can run alongside it. The laser burns or melts its way through materials, so it leaves evidence of its involvement, often through a scorch mark, and this is not always to everyone's taste. The project's aim was to show artists and designers how the laser can be used as a creative tool.