Illinois map, cut to the state line
Illinois buyers mostly want Chicago, and they want their part of it. A laser cut Illinois map can be a Wrigleyville grid, a lakefront skyline map, or a state ornament with a heart on the hometown downstate.
7 days free, then $12 a month. Cancel anytime. Or 10 maps for $10.
Places in Illinois people ask for
What sells in Illinois
Chicago is the market. It has one of the best grids for laser maps in the country: straight streets, a river that bends through the middle and the lake as a hard edge on the east. A city street map of a neighborhood with the lake as its own layer is a top seller. Engagement and first-apartment maps do well here.
Runners are a real niche. Chicago's marathon draws a big field, and finishers like their route on the wall. Import the GPX from the race and engrave it over the city. See route maps.
Downstate is college towns and hometowns. Champaign-Urbana, Bloomington-Normal, Carbondale, Peoria. People who moved to the city often want a two-place piece with where they grew up.
Wedding and engagement maps do well in Chicago because so many couples meet there after college. A heart frame with two windows, the apartment where they met and the spot where they got engaged, is a common ask. See love story maps. Lake Geneva, just over the Wisconsin line, is where many Chicago families spend summers, so expect requests for it too.
Making a laser cut Illinois ornament
Illinois is tall, with the Mississippi River making the whole west edge wavy and the short Lake Michigan shore at the top right. At 4 in, the shape fills the height and leaves space on the sides. Inside, keep it to I-55 from Chicago to St. Louis, I-57 down the east side, I-80 across the top, and the Illinois River. Lake Michigan sits outside the outline, so the shoreline is the edge.
Put a star on Chicago and a heart on the hometown. That two-pin version is the common ask: "we live here now, we are from there." A navy backer reads as lake water. Red and blue for team colors also works.
Keep pins small at 4 in so the river edge stays the star of the shape.
Questions makers ask
Can I make a Chicago neighborhood map with the lake?
Yes. Zoom to the neighborhood and the lake comes in as water on its own layer. It gives the piece a strong straight edge on the east.
Can I put Chicago and my downstate hometown on one Illinois ornament?
Yes. Drop a star on Chicago and a heart on the hometown. At 4 in, both read clearly because the state is tall.
Can I add my Chicago Marathon route?
Yes. Export the GPX from your watch or app and import it in the Studio. It becomes a line you can engrave or score on the map.
Keep going
Places to mapState mapsA US state outline as the shape of the piece, with highways, lakes and a heart on the home town.
Pieces to makeMap ornamentsA 4 in layered hometown ornament with a name and a year. The map most customers buy first.
GuideWhy Map Ornaments Sell (and How to Make the Math Work)Why map ornaments sell comes down to three things: a place carries a memory, the wood costs pennies, and the season does your marketing for you. Here is the math, the calendar and the ornament ideas to sell, plus the one part of the job that quietly eats your profit.Cut your first Illinois piece.
Pick Illinois as the frame, drop in the hometown, and see it in 3D before the laser does.
7 days free, then $12 a month. Cancel anytime. Or 10 maps for $10.
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