Advice on Marble and Color Fill

[Ernie Martinez]

I have an logo which has several colors, mostly black and white with red fill around some lettering and objects. I have a customer request to make a tile mosaic to go on the floor. My questions are as follows:

Can you do color fill on Marble since there is very little relief?
If yes, will the color hold up on the floor of a bar?
If the customer will accept a monochrome image are there white or light marble tiles that will engrave to black?

The reason for my last question is that as you all know, in order to engrave onto black marble I need to invert the image, which means that the majority of the marble is lasered (background) to provide contrast for the image (not lasered). If I dont invert then I end up with a negative image which doesn't look very good. I can't seem to find white marble other than on Lasersketch but they only list coasters on their site.

I also considered cermark, but again I'm concerned with how well it will hold up on the floor.

At the end of the day I need to fill a 24" x 24" square on a floor, with their logo. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Scott Shepherd]

Marble would be the wrong choice of materials for a bar floor. It's very soft and scratches very easily.

[Ernie Martinez]

I have marble floors in my house!

[Kees Soeters]

If the white may be "grey with some stripes" you could use the "italian"-marble for that.. looks more natural too
When you laser it full-throttle and not too fast you could easily carve 2-3mm deep. When you fill the carves pieces with a 2-component paint, i think that will last quite a while. Spills(if any) can be sanded an polished off.

Kees

[Chad Fitzgerald]

I used laser tile for an inset in the entryway to my house, 18x24" with 6" white laser tile.put a picture of our horses in the pasture, with a quote on it. it has held up very well to traffic. dont have the traffic a bar floor has but, i have a gravel driveway which means gravel in our shoes alot. the tiles are place right in the middle where you walk from entryway into main house. everyone has to step on it. white tile that engraves very close to black.
chad

[Bruce Dorworth]

Ermie, there is some tile called Laser tile. They are white and have a coating on them that engraves black. Their web site is lasertile.com. They also have a laser glass that you engrave the back and then paint,
Give them a call and see if something there might work for you.

Bruce

[Martin Boekers]

Consider doing a wood inlay, when sealed maybe more durable. You can stain the wood to colors you need.

Also Conde does large format Dye Sub Services Wholesale. They do floor mats, would be quite a bit cheaper
check them out. This may generate more sales as they are affordable.

http://www.dyetrans.com/sublimation_fulfillment.php


Marty

[Scott Shepherd]

I have marble floors in my house!

That doesn't mean it's suiting for the floor in a bar. How many bars have you need in and seen a marble floor? Probably none. Marble is soft. It scratches. Why do you think they tell you not to clean it with anything that has abrasives in it?

[Ernie Martinez]

Thanks all for your input. I think the laser tile may do the trick.

[Martin Boekers]

Thanks all for your input. I think the laser tile may do the trick.

Not sure if laser tile will hold up as it's mainly design for decoration. Plus you won't be able to do colors.

Dye Sub tiles are probably the cheapest route, but again, not sure about floor durability.

Have you tried regular ceramic tile? Main here have used it and filled it with a color. You might have to seal
it when finished as protection.

[Ross Moshinsky]

You want to get a "deep" etch and then fill with durable epoxy paint. Something like what they use in basements and garages.

Really what you want to do is cut out the actual shapes and inlay everything. Anything else won't hold up.