Create Custom Laser Cut Christmas Ornaments With Wood

Step 1: Where to Find Laser Cutting Files

These designs are cut on the xTool M1 laser cutter. The images are files from either the xTool software or Creative Fabrica.

Creative Fabrica is a great website with designs for all kinds of crafty projects. One nice thing is that you typically have permission to sell the products you make from these designs. Unlike a lot of files you find elsewhere.

You’ll see below how you can adapt these shapes to customise designs. My YouTube video goes into more detail if that’s what you’re particularly interested in.

Step 2: Create Bauble Designs

To build your bauble shape simply create two circles. One about 2 cm or 1 inch bigger than the other. You want this to be thick enough to be stable and not likely to snap.
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Secondly, for the ribbon holder, add a small circle at the top and use the Unite tool to combine it with the outer circle.

The top two designs are two different basic bauble shapes. The one on the left gives more stability and a base for objects such as a snowman to sit on. To create this base, use a circle and rectangle and the Subtract tool.

When making two-layer designs, it’s helpful to have both next to each other so that you can see how the designs will overlap.

To make the snowflake and tree designs: Place the design object, such as the tree, around the edge of the ring. You want a good amount of the tree to overlap with the ring for a secure attachment.

Once the design is in place, select both the inner ring and the tree, and use the Subtract tool to connect them. This embeds the object within the ring so it will cut out as one piece. 

Step 3: How to Edit Images for Custom Ornaments

Here’s how to customise a shape to exactly what you want. You’ll see on this tree shape that it attaches to one side of the bauble ring and not the other. Ideally, you want the design to connect with as many places of the outer ring as possible to make it stable.

To customise it, you edit the nodes.

The nodes are the different building blocks of the shape. You can add more nodes, you can take them away, and you can move them. This is what you’re going to do to change the tree shape slightly so that it connects to the ring. 

This is a great way to add more originality to your design by customising it however you like.

Check out the YouTube video to see how to customise these shapes and add words to baubles in more detail. 

Step 4: Laser Cut Ornament Designs

These designs were cut on 2mm Ceiba plywood. And while all machines and materials vary, I used Power 100 and Speed 6. 

But you may see that the tree and present at the bottom did not cut out entirely.

This happens sometimes. It doesn’t mean that your settings are wrong.

The fact that everything cut out in other places on the board but not these two on the same side suggests it’s a wood issue, not a settings problem. There’s a good chance that there was more glue in that side of plywood or possibly the wood was warped there.

This is normal and part of the process sometimes.

Step 5: Clean Laser Cut Ornaments

Once your laser-cut ornaments are cut out, they need cleaning. The outline of where the cuts were will have soot on it.

Fortunately, there’s an easy solution. The soot comes off easily with white vinegar and a cloth.

A bonus is that it also reduces the cutting smell. The smell does subside over time but this is a way to knock it back quicker. Sealing it with varnish also does the job. 

Step 6: Decorate the Laser Cut Ornaments

Add your unique touch with paint or glitter. You can highlight small details or cover the entire ornament with a layer of sparkle. For multi-layered designs, ensure the layers align perfectly to showcase the intended details.

Just as with the painting, you can add glitter sparingly or go all out.

You have the freedom to glitter all of the shape or add little shiny accents. There’s so much flexibility in how you can decorate. But even the smallest amount of glitter adds a special sparkle to a tree ornament. 

This Christmas pudding is a different style to the others but too adorable not to share. The two layers here are built up with the holly and berries at the top.

Most of this design is brought to life by the score lines on the image. Scoring, rather than engraving or cutting is great if you are not confident in your painting or drawing ability.

The fun thing is that you can decorate these however you like, such as using different paints for realistic colouring. Or no paint and just glitter to build up layers of colour. Alternatively, you could add coloured card to the back of the entire bauble to give it a more solid look. 

The important thing is to make sure that your two layered designs line up properly to show the areas you want.

Step 7: Attach Two Layers With Glue

Laser Cut Christmas Ornaments

You can see the difference when just adding a touch of glitter to the end of the snowflake. It gives such a different feel. Something that’s fun to play around with to decide what your favourite look is.

Wintery trees will always look beautiful in a festive setting. The touches of white paint for snow and glittery branches. It really is charming.

It’s a lot of fun to make so many different designs. The options really are endless.