A Stunning Handcrafted Laser Cut Map of the United States With All Its Waterways Beautifully Illuminated

Illuminated Waterways of the United States

Maker AlexT9 created an absolutely stunning and highly detailed laser cut map of the United States that features all of the country’s waterways illuminated. Alex generously detailed the process for crafting this map on Instructables. The artisan stated that he was inspired by the work on the Earth Art Australia Etsy store.

I just started playing around with laser cutters and was looking for a project. I wanted to do a map-related laser cutter project, but wasn’t exactly sure what. I saw the Earth Art Australia Etsy shop while browsing random things online. After seeing some of the maps there, I got the idea to etch the the rivers of the USA map.

Sketch of Waterways Map

Illuminated US Waterways

Map Carved

Tools for Illuminated Map

via My Modern Met

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.