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Mark Fitzmorris
10-04-2006, 3:33 PM
Well here is my first attempt at a marble plaque. What do you all think? Feedback would be apprechiated.

Daryl Barberousse
10-04-2006, 7:23 PM
BEAUTIFUL work!!!

Bob Tate
10-04-2006, 7:25 PM
That looks really good. Great job. The Gold must be a color fill. What did you use? Did you use Photograv? That image looks pretty crisp from here. That is really nice work.
Bob

Bruce Volden
10-04-2006, 7:32 PM
Mark,

Obviously you're satisfied with it what with a pic and all :) how 'bout the customer?? Looks nice, and ain't it fun too? I have some wildlife scenes and other original artwork I have used on marble and granite, it always seems to come out nice. Keep up the good work!


Bruce

Mark Fitzmorris
10-04-2006, 8:26 PM
Daryl, Bruce and Bob,Thanks for the kind words!

Bob, the color fill is gold rub-buff and I yes I used photo grave and photoshop.

Bruce the customer has only seen the photo, I am shipping it to him tomorrow, but was very happy what he saw. He did not even mind that the price had gone up abit!

Mike Null
10-04-2006, 8:59 PM
First class work. Did you mask it before you lasered it? If not is there any trace of rub n buff visible outside the engraved area?

Mark Fitzmorris
10-04-2006, 9:25 PM
Mike,

Thanks. I did not mask it in fact I had not even thought of appling the rub-n-buff untill after I was done engraving. I tried it on a practice piece and liked it so I used it on the finished piece. The rup-n-buff buffs off the parts of the marble that are not engraved with a bit of elbow grease.

Patrick OBrien
10-04-2006, 11:16 PM
Great job!
I have had limited success with marble, problematic media for a 25W laser.
I love the gold rub buff for accent.
Nice layout.

Mark Fitzmorris
10-04-2006, 11:38 PM
Patrick,

Thanks, I am also using a 25 watt machine. So far it seems to do fine I went at 50% power 100 speed 300dpi.

Dave Fifield
10-05-2006, 4:37 AM
Nice looking plaque Mark.

Just a small point, and I may be wrong on this, but isn't the phrase supposed to be "...wish you fair seas and following winds" and not "...wish you fair winds and following seas" as you have it.

Or is it supposed to be the wrong way round (an "in joke" perhaps?)?

:Dave F.

Rodne Gold
10-05-2006, 5:02 AM
Plaque looks real good , well done.
25 or even 12 watts is fine for marble , you have 2 strategies to engrave it , you either leech the colour which is low power and high speed , or you blast it thermally which promotes cracking and fracturing of the surface which is a low speed , high power application (you generally need this for filling)
Filling marble is sometimes very problematic as even the polished surface is porous , we have found rub n buff or gilders wax based metallic pastes often sink into the surface and are almost impossible to remove - if we gonna do fills , we mask the marble with paper application tape.
We often use the silver paste over the whole engraving to "whiten" it up (we do the same for laser engraved glass)

Bruce Volden
10-05-2006, 6:40 AM
Nice looking plaque Mark.

Just a small point, and I may be wrong on this, but isn't the phrase supposed to be "...wish you fair seas and following winds" and not "...wish you fair winds and following seas" as you have it.

Or is it supposed to be the wrong way round (an "in joke" perhaps?)?

:Dave F.



OH OH


Bruce

Rodne Gold
10-05-2006, 6:59 AM
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/MEDIA/fathom/issues/JanMar03/fairwinds.htm

Mark Fitzmorris
10-05-2006, 8:58 AM
Dave and Rodne thanks for the kind words!

Dave, the expression is correct as written on the plaque, a fair wind and a following sea is a sailors ideal conditions (I am a retired Coasty and often miss those days at sea).

Rodne I guess I got lucky that the rub-n-buff did not sink into the polished surface. Your expertise is very much apreachiated by me so I will mask the marble from now on! I had used Keiths "secret sauce" of armour all on the marble before I engraved so maybe that helped prevent it from sinking into the polished marble?

Rodne Gold
10-05-2006, 12:19 PM
The Armor all sounds like it works real well as a mask , Im in South Africa so don't get it here but will try something similar if I can find it , sounds easier than masking with tapes.

Mark Fitzmorris
10-05-2006, 1:00 PM
Rodne,

The information that I have gathered form this site is amazing! I want to thank you for the information that you have shared with us here. Your knowledge and experience in this field is very obvious and your willingness to share that with us that are new to engraving is greatly appreciated! I always look forward to your posts because I know that I will learn something from them. Have you ever considered writing a book on engraving? I know that I would by it! Thanks for all info you have passed and I know I will learn alot more from you and all the others that post here.

Dave Fifield
10-05-2006, 7:27 PM
Dave, the expression is correct as written on the plaque, a fair wind and a following sea is a sailors ideal conditions (I am a retired Coasty and often miss those days at sea).


Phew! :) You're right....had me worried for a bit there. Just to be sure, I did a quick online search and could only find it quoted as you have it.

Did you use PhotoGrav or something else?

:Dave F.

Mark Fitzmorris
10-05-2006, 9:50 PM
Dave,

I used both Photo Grave and Photshop. The top engraving is the units logo super imposed on a photo of the view looking down a 50 cal. in Ash Shuaba Kuwait. A sight that is too familiar for his unit.

Al Mutairi
10-06-2006, 5:27 PM
Dave,

I used both Photo Grave and Photshop. The top engraving is the units logo super imposed on a photo of the view looking down a 50 cal. in Ash Shuaba Kuwait. A sight that is too familiar for his unit.

Glad there are no typo mistakes on that plaque , hate it when something like happens to me! However, you do have another typo mistake:eek: where you may ask ? well , it is Alshuaiba not Ash Shuaba ? how do I know ? I am from Kuwait & Alshuaiba Port is only 10 Km away from where I live :p

Mark Fitzmorris
10-06-2006, 7:35 PM
Al,

Sorry for the misspelling! I spent a good amount of time there you would think I would have learned how to spell it!