Laser Cutting!

This is the first time I did laser cutting at my Uni for my last project. I've never used it before and really wanted to try using it because I know I want to experiment with perspex plastics for my third year. After carefully drawing my bird design on illustrator, this was operated on the computer's laser cutting machine to cut out the perspex. I had trouble with that complicated machine because it would engrave, but it wouldn't cut out the shape :/ so I had to literally recut it three times. The third time, it did slightly cut through but not enough, so I had to literally pull my shape out with much force. The holes managed to cut through but not the entire shape which was strange. I was annoyed because it should have been straightforward. I was told the machine works better with black perspex because it absorbs light, apparently. 
I managed to pull some designs out and these were brooches and jewellery. Hopefully better luck next time.