Engraving 8.5 x 11 marble certificates

[Mike Lush]

Hi,

I need to engrave a university certificate onto marble and while the majority of it looks good, the university emblem and gold stamp details are pretty much gone. I've tried some test pieces and lower dpi works a little better. Does anyone do these on a regular basis and would care to share some of their settings (I'm running out of test pieces)? Is it a matter of using lower power setting and doing a couple of passes? They really look fantastic on marble.

Also, for added value, does anyone add gold leaf or paint, etc to these sort of items when they are doing them? What seems to work best?

Thank in advance,
Mike

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Mike;
I've done afew of these and found that the emblem/seal need to be enhanced in Photoshop/whatever separate from the text. Adjust brightness and contrast to get as black and white as possible-no grays.
Gold acrylic craft paint works well for fill- wipe it on, card it off, let dry and gently rub residue off.
Good Luck
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

[Mike Null]

I agree with George. On some of the ones I've done the university art dept. gave me the original art for the seal. They are very protective of that but I was doing about 40 plaques for the school so they relented.

[Mike Lush]

Thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it. I see what you mean by working on the seal on its own in photoshop. That should make a big difference. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of resolution/spped/power settings do you generally use. Does doing it twice at a lower power setting make a big difference?

Thanks again,
Mike
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