Why We Invested in a Laser Cutter

We launched The June Drop in June 2025, and slipmats weren't even part of the plan at first. They came later — something we landed on organically, almost as a side experiment. We listed our first two SKUs in late November. They started to sell, and kept selling. By January we'd expanded to six. By this past June, twelve.

That growth is the reason we made a decision behind-the-scenes to invest in a laser cutting machine.

It's not the kind of update that photographs well. But it's already changed how we make our best-selling product, and how you'll experience it once it's unwrapped and sitting on your turntable.

Here's why it mattered enough to prioritize.

The problem with cutting by hand

We were always diligent about quality control, but that reliability came from extreme vigilance. And a bit of effort physically... one of us needing to stabilize the felt while the other rotated the circle cutter manually. Cute teamwork exercise, but scalable? Nope.

The blade itself introduced small variances: an edge that wasn't quite round, a cut that didn't sit perfectly flush, occasional breakage. This was workable at two SKUs. It works differently at twelve.

The designs, colors, and printing quality were never the issue, and we knew we believed in the product. What we needed was a way to cut it that matched the care that went into designing it.

The problem no one could see

The second issue was smaller, but it bothered us just as much.

Once our original slipmats were out of the packaging and living in someone's home, there was nothing that says June Drop. No mark, no signature, nothing to remind the person who bought it why it's special — or where to come back to when they're ready for their next piece.

That's a branding problem as much as a product one, and we wanted the piece itself to carry the story.

What the laser cutter changes

The laser cutter solves both problems at once. 

On the production side, it gives us the clean, repeatable cut our vibrant illustrative designs always deserved. Precision that matches our artistic integrity. 

On the branding side, it lets us etch a small JD stamp on the underside of every slipmat, alongside "Artist-made in the USA."

It's subtle — you won't see it until you flip the mat over — but it's there. A quiet, permanent reminder of who made it, and that there's a real studio behind the piece.

And, it's fun to play with lasers... safely, of course!

Why it matters

This wasn't a flashy upgrade. It's the kind of investment you make when a product you launched almost by accident becomes the one people keep coming back for, and you want your process to be as reliable as the demand.

Our slipmats have always been about original art you can actually use. Now they carry a little more of us with them, too.