GLENBORO – A resident is launching a laser-engraving business to bring small-scale manufacturing to businesses and custom orders to people in Westman.
Resident Liam Kelley purchased a laser engraving machine this year and has renovated his garage in Glenboro to make a shop. The local is beginning to design items and gifts, and search for partnerships in the area, he told the Sun.
“I’m at the point where I’m starting to feel more confident using the machinery,” Kelley said. “August is going to be a big marketing push.”
Coffee coasters that Glenboro resident Liam Kelley engraved with images of pets and family members. (Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun)
Kelley, 26, has learned to program the machine to use its laser to create designs on top of different items, such as kitchen knives, coasters and pet tags. He said he wants to find businesses in the area that have that need, and locals who want custom orders.
He has already sold a custom trading card to a customer in Ottawa after connecting with them online. Original artwork partners well with the laser engraving, as the designs can be input into the machine as guides for the lasers, he said.
“These machines become really, really powerful when you start combining them with other tools,” Kelley said.
The shop is in a garage that he and his father are renovating in Glenboro. It was previously “a junk bin basically,” he said, but it’s transforming into a business space. Kelley and his father installed the machine in a small room, and quickly learned more work needed to be done to make the shop comfortable.
“I was smoking myself out in here a little bit,” Kelley said. “I was like, ‘It’s kind of hard to breathe in here. I need a window and I need something to pull out smoke.”
Examples of laser-engraved knives that Kelley can make. (Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun)
The machine is about three feet long by four feet wide, taking up a large space of the room. As lasers engrave items in the machine, they give off the scent of smoldering wood.
Kelley said his goal for the business is to build partnerships with local businesses, and do side projects where he can make custom items for Westman residents.
Examples of personal items include kitchen knives engraved with heartfelt messages to loved ones, or barbecue spatulas and coasters. On the business end, he has reached out to the Glenboro Cat Rescue Centre and offered to burn pet tags for the cats, and burned designs onto lighters and other items that are sold at cannabis dispensaries.
“A lot of it is coming up with solutions to problems,” Kelley said. “That’s one of the big ways you have to provide a service, is to solve people’s problems.”
Do-it-yourself work has always been a passion of his, Kelley said.
Liam Kelley stands outside his garage in Glenboro, which he and his father are renovating to create a shop. Kelley has launched a laser-engraving business in the shop and aims to combine it with 3D printing and woodworking. (Photos by Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun)
He described making toys for himself as a child, forming action-figures out of pipe cleaners; building his own computer when he was 13; and 3D-printing wooden pieces for a tabletop game as an adult. Currently en route to his home are a set of computers that will allow him to store movies on a network at home so he can watch them without paying for a streaming service like Netflix.
A laser-engraving business lets him invest into that DIY lifestyle, he said. And, he believes that small communities need to have a local source of manufacturing to strengthen them and help them self-sustain.
But design is a big part of it, he said. Some test prints, including coffee-table coasters designed with bison, and others with a man and a woman, outline the kind of work he aims to specialize in. While not all work might be creative, creativity is what motivates him.
“Long term, what really excites me and gets me going is the idea of being able to make things with designs and original artwork.”
For a playing card recently shipped to Ottawa, he commissioned an artist online. When the artwork was finished, he programmed his machine to imprint that design onto a metal plate. He said three other people have reached out interested in that service.
A variety of test items are on display in the Glenboro Bake Shop. Kelley spent the months of June and July learning how to use his laser engraver on surfaces like wood and metal. Now that he has calibrated the machine, he plans to sell items. (Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun)
The last two months have been spent learning to use the laser engraver machine. Some challenges included upping the strength or changing the characteristics of the laser to get the desired imprints on items. Surfaces like wood and metal require different calibrations, he said.
Moving forward, Kelley said he is looking at outreach and building relationships with people in the area. He said he is building up to December, which is typically a busy time of the year for this work as people look for gifts. He is aiming for partnerships roughly an hour from Glenboro.
He has named his business Kelley Laser Engraving Services.
»cmcdowell@brandonsun.com
A piece of wood is burned with a company logo at Kelley’s home. Engraving supplies have been hard to get as Amazon deliveries were impacted by the Canada Post contract negotiations. (Connor McDowell/Brandon Sun)
Liam Kelley demonstrates how the laser engraver works, as a red nozzle points a laser down at wood laid on the deck. The machine can be programmed to replicate designs that are added to its computer. (Connor McDowell/The Brandon Sun)
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