My First Mirror

[Sean De Gazon]

Hello all,
This is my first post in a looooong time, I thought I would share a pictue of the wife that I engraved on a HD beveled tile. I used photograv (old version) and painted the back of the mirror with white spray paint.
Would appreciate all feedback be it + or -
Regards,
Sean

[Scott Erwin]

Very nice. The detail in the arch is really good. The detailing in the rocks and in her top came out well.

Good work....

[Frank Corker]

I used photograv (old version) and painted the back of the mirror with white spray paint.

Hey Sean, thought you were dead (never seem to get suprised these days :D) very nice job on 'the wife' (I hope she is your wife).

No, result is very good, one thing that does suprise me is that you used white spray paint. I am guessing that you have done this in reverse to what most people do it.

All of my mirrors are painted on the back with black paint. I do my images on mirror in a positive and flipped horizontal. You appear to have done a negative image, hence the need to use white paint.

Still as can be seen from your picture, there are more than one way in which you can skin a cat. Well done!

[Tim Bateson]

Very good results. Try without PhotoGrav, using the latest Epilog driver's Dithering functions.

[Mike Null]

Sean

Well done. Good to have you back.

[Dan Hintz]

I was thinking the same as Frank... I guess it boils down to how much of the reflective material you want left when the image is done.

[Gary and Jessica Houghton]

Great Job! I love HD tiles. Did you frame this mirror?

[Sean De Gazon]

Hey Sean, thought you were dead (never seem to get suprised these days :D) very nice job on 'the wife' (I hope she is your wife).

No, result is very good, one thing that does suprise me is that you used white spray paint. I am guessing that you have done this in reverse to what most people do it.

All of my mirrors are painted on the back with black paint. I do my images on mirror in a positive and flipped horizontal. You appear to have done a negative image, hence the need to use white paint.

Still as can be seen from your picture, there are more than one way in which you can skin a cat. Well done!


Frank - you had me cracking up with your response. I can only afford one wife in this economy:eek:. When the mirror was completed, I put it on top of a dark background and it didn't look right so I put it up against a white background and I got the desired effect.
Gary & Jessica- I haven't framed it just yet but I plan to do so when time permits.
Tim- I'll try your suggestion on my next mirror project.
Thanks for all the feedback guys.

[David Harvey]

Very Good!

Never dreamed of using white paint. May have to try that on mine someday.

Thanks for sharing

[Tim Bateson]

David, Remember you want to do that with a Negative engraved image.

[Scott Shepherd]

Nice looking job Sean! Turned out really well.

One question- in the top of the arch, the solid white part, is that banding showing up or is that a feature in the arch?

[Sean De Gazon]

Nice looking job Sean! Turned out really well.

One question- in the top of the arch, the solid white part, is that banding showing up or is that a feature in the arch?

Scott- I hadn't really paid too much attention to that area. I myself thought it was a feature in the arch, however much to my dismay, after studying the photo closely (now that you picked up on it) I would have to say that it is in fact banding. I've included a low resolution copy of the original photo and those lines are not visible.
Now I am getting a bit worried, should I call the techs at Epilog or is there another solution readily available to prevent this problem from happening again or at least prevent it from getting any worse.

[Frank Corker]

Personally I think it is more likely to have been the way in which you processed the image. There is banding which is showing up on the white areas, but if the processing has been done incorrectly, the moire pattern that you have here is a possibility.

[Scott Shepherd]

Sean, I only brought it up because when I tried messing with mirrors several years ago, I couldn't get rid of that and I never could figure out how everyone else did mirrors without getting it. I don't know if it's how I processed them or not (not even sure how I processed them). Frank might be dead on. I don't have the machine any longer, so I can't experiment with getting rid of it. If anyone can help with images, it's the folks on SMC. There are a number of people on here who know a lot about processing images.

[James Aldrich]

On some mirror, the paint on the back side has what appears to be fine brush strokes (ridges) in it. This will also cause a banding effectin photos. I try to stick with mirror that has a very smooth painted back.

Jim

[Sean De Gazon]

Ok guys I'm hoping it was the processing of the image.I usually go with Frank's expertise when it comes to these things. (after all it was my first attempt)
My machine has been lightly used since I've had it and I would be really disappointed if it were a problem with the equipment. I also recall removing the mirror from the machine to inspect it after the first run. Then I replaced it and run it a second time since my power settings were not enough to remove the backing completely the first time around. I would think if I didn't replace it in the exact spot the second time user error could have also contributed to the banding effect.