Darren Null
03-02-2008, 5:03 PM
I was bidding on a hotel job (which they STILL haven't got back to me on) and in order to demonstrate my 1337 skillz and the awsome power of my 10W laser, I knocked up a few samples. Credit where credit's due, my wife did the sticking because:
1) I lack patience and
2) I usually end up stuck to the piece and the table...and in extreme cases the chair, my coffeecup and casual passers-by. On a related note, I'm the only person I know who has soldered himself to his keyboard (while working on something completely different).
So. Among the samples was my first crack at inlay work. What the hell- if it was a disaster I didn't have to show it to anybody. Amazingly cheaply constructed from plywood and some rubbish veneer and varnished with a rock-hard brush, the material costs were probably well under €2 (€ 2 = 3.0376 US$ for you 'merkins according to google); I present to you...
http://laser-etching.com/albayzin1.jpg
...Which leads me to the first fortuitous discovery. The frame is cheaply constructed from 4 bits of plywood with a stripe of 'fishscale' postscript fill and in real life it looks amazingly posh for the cost. As I burned the frame, it curled up at one edge where the tape came loose. This led to an increasingly darker and out of focus burn to one side. When in the frame, it gives a 3D impression that works in real life until quite close examination, despite being made of completely flat plywood (because the eye sees the darker burn as shadowing, presumably). I've repeated this effect since by slipping an empty packet of cigarette papers under one end and it works well.
On to fortuitous discovery #2: Dressmaker's felt. Sticky on the back, markable on the front. The marking is quite subtle, so the uses are going to be limited, but it's cheap, sticky and adds instant posh...even if it's background for other projects. I got a bit 1m x 60cm for €4.85.
http://laser-etching.com/albayzin2.jpg
Edit: image display didn't. Changed to links.
1) I lack patience and
2) I usually end up stuck to the piece and the table...and in extreme cases the chair, my coffeecup and casual passers-by. On a related note, I'm the only person I know who has soldered himself to his keyboard (while working on something completely different).
So. Among the samples was my first crack at inlay work. What the hell- if it was a disaster I didn't have to show it to anybody. Amazingly cheaply constructed from plywood and some rubbish veneer and varnished with a rock-hard brush, the material costs were probably well under €2 (€ 2 = 3.0376 US$ for you 'merkins according to google); I present to you...
http://laser-etching.com/albayzin1.jpg
...Which leads me to the first fortuitous discovery. The frame is cheaply constructed from 4 bits of plywood with a stripe of 'fishscale' postscript fill and in real life it looks amazingly posh for the cost. As I burned the frame, it curled up at one edge where the tape came loose. This led to an increasingly darker and out of focus burn to one side. When in the frame, it gives a 3D impression that works in real life until quite close examination, despite being made of completely flat plywood (because the eye sees the darker burn as shadowing, presumably). I've repeated this effect since by slipping an empty packet of cigarette papers under one end and it works well.
On to fortuitous discovery #2: Dressmaker's felt. Sticky on the back, markable on the front. The marking is quite subtle, so the uses are going to be limited, but it's cheap, sticky and adds instant posh...even if it's background for other projects. I got a bit 1m x 60cm for €4.85.
http://laser-etching.com/albayzin2.jpg
Edit: image display didn't. Changed to links.