Holes: punching, laser cutting, or burning out?

Click here to see a short video.

On this video you can see how fast one laserbeam can cut a series of small elements.

The photo below suggest the fabric is being laser cut in two places at the same time; but this is due to the shutter speed of the camera.

For sampling, a laser cutter is the fastest and less costfull method when you are creating a pattern with holes.

An all over pattern of regular dots can best be punched – there are punch machines waiting to do that for you.

For an irregular pattern with small dots, all the same size, a specific laser cutting machines is available.

Irregular patterns with dots in varying sizes can be cut with laser or burnt out with a printing chemical. For this burn out technique a fabric of at least 40 % cellulose fiber is required. And – with some tricks – it is possible to use burn out on a 100 % cellulose fiber.

Film and photos were shot while working on the Graphixscan Laser 500 in the Dutch Textielmuseum.