8 Ways to Use Nano Banana AI in Your Craft Business

AI tools are everywhere right now, but one of the newest getting attention in the creative community is Google Gemini’s image generation tool nicknamed Nano Banana. 🍌 Makers, small business owners, and laser crafters are wondering if it’s worth adding to their workflow. We put Nano Banana to the test with 8 real world experiments so you don’t have to. Some results were game changers. Others were a little more… banana.

👉 Watch the full video here: We Tested 8 Nano Banana Hacks for Crafters

What is Nano Banana?

Nano Banana is the playful name for the image creation feature inside Google Gemini 2.5 Flash. Instead of competing with ChatGPT or MidJourney, Nano Banana feels more like it’s aiming at Photoshop. It focuses on quick image editing, background swaps, mockups, and preparing graphics for different uses. For small businesses and laser crafters, that could mean saving hours every week.

1. Pattern Creation

We tested Nano Banana for seamless patterns. The results were hit or miss. It handled basic repeats well, but if you need perfect seamless patterns, Photoshop is still more reliable. Still, Nano Banana offers a fast way to experiment with design ideas for tumblers, digital backgrounds, and product wraps.

2. Product Mockups Without the Mess

One of the most practical uses we found was creating product mockups. We dropped in a design and asked Nano Banana to place it on a tumbler. In seconds, we had a realistic preview that looked almost laser engraved. For crafters who want to test designs or show clients previews before production, this is a real time saver.

3. Personalization Previews for Customers

Customers love to see their name or date on a product before they buy. Normally, that means opening Illustrator or Photoshop and mocking it up manually. Nano Banana let us swap out names and dates on a design almost instantly. This feature could be huge for online shops offering personalized gifts like signs, tumblers, or ornaments.

4. Colorway Transfers with Swatches

As paint lovers, we often create new colorway challenges for our signs. Nano Banana can apply swatches to designs to show different paint schemes. While the results weren’t always perfect, it gave us quick visuals for marketing and brainstorming.

5. Room Staging for Home Decor Products

Staging door hangers and home decor items for marketing takes forever. Nano Banana surprised us by placing our product images on front porches and seasonal settings. Imagine showing your sign in a holiday porch scene without ever leaving your shop. This use alone could save hours of staging and photography.

6. Social Media Chaos Fuel

Nano Banana is perfect for creating scroll-stopping images. We tried making a new thumbnail with a glowing banana, and it nailed it. For makers struggling with YouTube thumbnails, Instagram posts, or just wanting something eye catching, Nano Banana can generate quirky edits that pull attention fast.

7. Preparing Photos for Laser Engraving

This was one of the features we were most excited about. We uploaded a regular photo and told Nano Banana to prepare it for laser engraving. In seconds, it gave us a clean black and white image with bumped contrast. Normally that would take 15 to 20 minutes in Photoshop. If you are engraving photos on acrylic, wood, or slate, this could save a ton of time.

8. Vector-Style Sticker Art for Cut Files

Finally, we asked Nano Banana to turn a photo into flat vector-style sticker art. The results weren’t perfect, but they were close enough for an Illustrator image trace. For laser crafters who make SVG files or cut files, this could speed up the process of converting images into usable designs.

Our Honest Verdict

Nano Banana is like a slot machine. Sometimes you hit gold. Other times you get results that need tweaking. But overall, it offers quick wins for:

• Craft business product mockups

• Client personalization previews

• Fast social media graphics

• Prepping photos for laser engraving

It’s not perfect, but if you are running a small craft business or working with lasers, it’s worth experimenting with. Even if it saves you just 30 minutes a week, that’s time you can spend making and selling instead of editing.

Try It in Your Business

If you want to see exactly how Nano Banana performed in our 8 real world tests, check out the full video here:
👉 Watch on YouTube

And let us know in the comments: Which Nano Banana trick would save you the most time in your business?