Sensitive much? 
Aaahhhhhcchhoooobluuuu. (Pardon the sneeze, it’s dusty in here.) 
Is it April 6th yet?
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You get all the likes today!
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oy. I’m never going to live that down.
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Huh! You and me both! 
I’ve decided to just toss a handful of blue into the air at Halloween and go partying as a shiny Smurfette…leave a little blue outline on the couch…pat people on the back…go visit Jim and dance across his carpet a few times … 
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Look!!! I have better friends! 
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When we first built this house we had white (or ivoryish) carpet in the living room. Then came kids with glitter projects. Then came the 3/4" oak 
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Here are a few more attempts. They still have a few quirks (and straight up issues) but they have potential. Once I get the process down a bit more, I’ll start integrating some of my own hand drawn artwork.
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They look fantastic! You are really getting the settings dialed in. Would you mind sharing? I’d hate to waste all the pieces you sent me trying to get there, but I understand if you’d rather not.
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I don’t mind sharing, but I’ll warn you that I’m still working it out. There is such great variance in each piece of bone that it seems like it needs to be adjusted on a case by case basis (or perhaps this is my inexperience shining through).
Generally, I’m going very low power (anywhere from 5-8) and lower speed as well (65-75). Still trying to get the LPI down, but have been liking it most around 225-270. Forgive me if that’s vague, this is still very experimental.
Image placement is a whole different challenge, since they’re so small. Even blowing it up to 200%, it’s hard to get the image on there just right.
So yeah - my pile of “oops” beads grew a bit last night. I’m open to suggestions if any of the more experienced laser folk have any ideas to offer.
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Oh thank you! I know it can be only an estimate (especially with changes from the cloud going on), but it gives me a starting point. Can’t wait to try it!
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Can they be sanded down?
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I would think so, though I’m not sure if I have the proper tools (maybe a dremel?). They’re fairly thin to begin with - ranging from about 3-5 mm - so that could pose some sanding challenges as well.
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That’s what I kept thinking… I bet that stunk! I struggle with leather!
Love seeing all this experiment! I would say for sure get a Dremel with the tiny diamond bits. I find it so incredibly relaxing to do this kid of detail work. You could possibly (this is what I would love to do) lighten up your line work and use it as a guide… If you don’t like how the details look you can freestyle your own and sand it at the end erasing the guide. You could feel confident saying it was hand done or provide DIY scrimshaw necklaces for others to finish 
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Crud. I forgot. I make my own alcohol ink! It’s so simple and you can mix and make whatever colors you want. I just use 91% alcohol, buy a big set of sharpies you like the shades of, bust open the sharpies and put the sponge part inside into about half a cup of alcohol and leave it to pull it all out… Add more alcohol as needed to lighten this is a board I did with them.
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That is a great tip. The two colors that you made are the two colors that I want to stain my “fish boxes” .
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Great idea, thanks! Is the blue ink in the tub what created the more greenish finish on the board, or was that being used on a different project?
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Awesome, thanks for the tip!
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Oh, that’s a gorgeous watercolor effect on the wood. I love it! Thanks for the tip … wish I’d read it before I went out and spent $11 for 3 teeny weenie (.5 oz) vials of alcohol ink 
Will definitely try your sharpie trick in the future though.
It also occurred to me - once again, after I’d spent the $$ - that I have some alcohol based leather dyes that could probably be diluted and used to the same end.
There’s a dremel floating around here somewhere, but the bits were lost/misplaced when we moved so it hasn’t seen much action in a while.
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And FWIW, the Copics worked beautifully. Exactly the effect that I wanted. Do you know if there’s a way to seal them? I’m wondering if some sort of wax would do the trick.
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