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A great (albeit speedy) Lynda.com video tutorial that demonstrates how to create a repeatable pattern tile in Adobe iIllustrator CC.

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A detailed written tutorial on how to make a custom repeating pattern design that utilizes multiple graphic elements.

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A super brief display of three recommended plastics for laser cut stencils.

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With Sara’s stencils project in mind...

Here are some helpful and detailed tips about Laser cutting stencils, from an Australian laser cutting service.

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How to make a tessellation,

This tutorial explains the 3 basic rules for creating a tessellation.

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This is a popular online tutorial that walks through the steps for creating a tessellating polygon pattern in Illustrator, then polished in Photoshop.

Please keep in mind that this tutorial is for graphic artwork. In order for your tessellating or repeat pattern to work well in laser cutting applications, you will have to also clean up any duplicate/overlapping vectors that are not needed for your laser cut work.

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This is a detailed tutorial for creating a customized seamless pattern using Adobe Illustrator CS6. Some functions in Adobe CC have simplified this process, but you may still find the fundamental methods in this tutorial very helpful!

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“Marianne Nicolson, Bakwin-a’tsi Container for Souls, 2006. Glass, cedar, light fixtures.

Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Purchased with funds donated by the Audain Foundation. Photo: Rachel Topham. This work was on display at the Gallery as part of In Dialogue with Carr, July 1, 2010 – January 30, 2011.”

Read more about this work and artist from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s website here.

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This written and illustrated tutorial gives you step-by-step process of how an original chinese print block was re-created using digital methods for laser cutting techniques.

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This is a thorough video tutorial of how to turn a scanned black and white image into a vector file for cutting. This demo is great at explaining some of the benefits and drawbacks of using Illustrator’s Image Trace function.

Remember that file/vector clean-up is inevitably part of your work when using the Image Trace function, so build in the appropriate amount of work-time!

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This is a good written tutorial about Adobe Illustrator’s ‘Global Editing’ function, that allows you to edit same/similar shapes altogether simultaneously! Great for use with your repeat patterns, tessellating patterns, or other work that involves multiple instances of the same/similar shapes.

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This is a handy instructibles.com tutorial on how to use free software ‘Inkscape’ to edit your artwork in preparation for laser cutting. Inkscape is a popular free software for those who prefer not to pay for Adobe CC subscription.

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In answer to Fenn’s question about how to customize the Spiral tool settings, here’s a super tutorial on how to exploit all of the functions of that tool!

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In response to Tina’s question about designing radial / polar patterns (like snowflakes or starbursts), here is a detailed 12min video tutorial that shows you how to create customized patterns that follow a circular path.

This is an intermediate tutorial for those who are already familiar with Path selections, Shapes tool, and the Polar grid tool.

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Helpful tutorial about creating repeat patterns and radial designs using the Polar grid tool.

This is an intermediate tutorial for those who are already familiar with basic Polar grid set-up, Path selections, and Brush definitions/strokes.