There are so many wrong ways to make cuts using the rotary attachment and I think I made them all. Now I can never forget. At some point things worked well enough and I ended up with these crazy cut-out shapes.

And this:

And then … there’s always this ~

For the right couple, it would be hilarious to deliver your question this way. Roll up just enough toilet paper over this enhanced inner holder. Place it in position. And plan accordingly.

What would YOU do if you had a million empty toilet paper rolls?

I etched my face in this one.

Of course, one of the problems I realized I created for myself was making the surface to be etched not cylindrically planar with the surface of the rotary attachment wheels, which meant that the attachment turned the toilet paper roll surface faster than intended for my artwork. Hence, my face is about 15% wider than it should be.

I worked with a lively group of high school students at Independence High School in San Jose a while back.

They heard I’d etched my face onto a toilet paper roll innard and chimed in to deliver me this jolly green giant of a cardboard tube etched with “Laura’s Super Duty Toilet Tissue”.

Pretty good etching, guys! The grooves would be fun with silly putty if I have any spare time around this object.

In thanks, I laser cut this message and had it delivered back to them.

Thanks for your charmin’ gift!

For the curious – of all the materials I’ve lased, this one used the least amount of heat – at the fastest speed with hardly any power.

Tthe exhaust was something to be reckoned with as you can see with the dense use of washers. Due to the strong exhaust, the little cutout pieces would blow around before they were done getting cut, sometimes keeping another part of that same letter from being cut. Shown above is my second run. I almost had to tape down the end roll to keep it from tp-ing the inside of the machine while the job was running, but this one turned out to be just heavy enough to stay put.

FINALLY, I achieved something I’ve been thinking of, salivating about, dreaming of doing for over a year!

Now – laser etch SomeThing on the innard of a toilet paper roll.

Can you see it? that’s not Jesus or his mom. That is me. There, I said it, put it on the web, it must be true.

No, really. I saw it etch out with my own eyes. and the picture is enhanced a bit so it shows up better online although this material doesn’t darken much.

So why did it take me so long?

I just had to build a little jig to hold it. and I needed to make it heavier so it would turn properly.

But the photo is wider than it should be because the jig has a narrower diameter than the roll.

Will improve it so the turning radius matches the toilet paper roll – or make my artwork narrower next time.

I can sleep now.