m-house encounters another solitary durable bedtime read while hovering over a field of disposable electric lawn mower manuals.
Wood, acrylic paint, cloth, tin can, aluminum can, chain, old Christmas lights wire, rusty bottle cap, graphite | 11 x 11 x 3.5 inches (28 x 28 x 9 cm) | March 2026

#stevedaytonart #assemblages #assemblageart #mixedmedia #mischtechnik #utahartist #southjordanutahartist #lasercutwood #xtoolm1ultra

The thick yarn on the shuttle and used in the weft is cotton and the thin thread like yarn in the warp is silk. I made a set of stick shuttles with my M1 Ultra laser. This weaving is done on my 30-inch Flip Rigid Heddle loom. I got the idea very loosely from thinking about rep weave. I wanted to see what would happen putting these two yarns together.

#stevedaytonart #handweaving #schachtfliploom #rigidheddleloom #rigidheddleweaving #cottonyarn #silkyarn #repweave #xtoolm1ultra #textiles

Concept for an open studio invitation. I used my M1 Ultra to pen draw the title on the front and cut the arched window and the card from some cardstock. I created the printed interior tip-in with a picture of my studio space, invitation text and a QR Code of map coordinates using Affinity Designer and had it printed at a copy shop.

#stevedaytonart #selfpromotion #openstudio #invitations #artstudio #affinitydesigner #xtoolm1ultra

I made a rubber stamp today with my M1 Ultra. It went better than any of the videos I watched showing how to create one.

#stevedaytonart #xtoolm1ultra #rubberstamp #laserengraving

For anyone using an xTool M1 Ultra, even though you may hear or read that drawing with pens is the only operation that allows the lid to remain open it's not true. This was confirmed by technical support when I contacted them about this. What if you want other color options such as what Cricut offers besides the eight official color pens xTool offers? Although some Cricut pens like the set of 30 I purchased fit into the pen holder unfortunately they are a bit too long to allow the lid to be closed. So here's how I modified them so they work with the lid closed.

1. I set up a marking jig with my Xacto saw miter box and lightly sawed a mark/guide around the circumference of the end of the pen barrel while rotating the pen as I sawed.
2. Then I used a utility knife to finish cutting through the barrel of the pen while pressing down on the blade while carefully rotating the barrel being careful not to cut through the plug.
3. I then cut a slit through the width of the piece that will be removed from the end of the barrel and peeled it off.
4. The only thing remaining to do was to push the end of the plug flush into the end of barrel.

I now have an assortment of 30 color pens to use with M1 Ultra. :-)

#stevedaytonart #xtoolm1ultra #xtooldrawingpenalternatives #drawingpens #arttoolworkarounds #arttools

Here is another one I'm working on. Everything except the box has been laser cut and assembled. Everything is now waiting for some color.

#stevedaytonart #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mischtechnik #assemblages #assemblageart #lasercutting #xtoolm1ultra #tinychairs #tinyfurniture

Here is an in process image of one of the pieces I'm currently working on. The chair is hand built and the fish at the bottom were laser cut from 3mm basswood plywood. Still more to come. Stay tuned for the finished piece.

#stevedaytonart #assemblages #assemblageart #lasercutting #mixedmedia #mixedmediaart #mischtechnik #utahartist #southjordanutahartist #xtoolm1ultra