My best-fiber-friend-forever (BFFF) and her husband, The Catsitter, have their anniversary in a few days. Both were born and raised in Bellingham, WA.
This set of four tiles (4"x4") shows my house and another fiber friend’s location (LH tile); city centers (middle tiles); her house (RH tile). There is some overlap of the maps.
The color is an acrylic tube paint, Ultramarine Blue. After washing the tile to remove any glass chips, I patted it dry and then slathered a dab of blue paint all over the tile. I used my finger to rub it in to the design from all angles; the last pass was vertical, since that texture reads the best due to the L-R action of the laser. Once dry, I used a paper towel with a lighter and lighter touch to remove the excess.
I’ll discuss laser settings in a post under Beyond the Manual, shortly.
Tile is way easier than I expected. If you start on a white tile, be prepared that it may look like nothing is happening at first; then you begin to see the texture. For me, tile is a very low-cost material, as I get it from the ReStore (a construction/hardware thrift store).
I’m going to try more tile. I like how it doesn’t require a high dpi; with a little fiddling of the settings, you can get deep crisp lines (score) and a human-vision-acceptable level of detail at 195dpi for the engrave. Makes it less painful time-wise.
