I have yet to try it, but here’s an instagram link to the inspiration: https://www.instagram.com/p/BOShoEqA1jk/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=5774ccc3-a593-424e-90fa-e3c2705b7d08
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Beautiful. I am a new owner and am really having fun learning. I am already used to Adobe products and am trying to make a few miniatures. Having good success. Than you fellow owners who take the time to help newbies with info.
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Welcome to the forum.
I hope you will share your experiences and photos when you make miniatures. There are many on the forum with an interest in this use of the Glowforoge.
OK that’s kind of awesome! I might just have to try that too. I think I have an old waffle iron…
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hrm. i have one of those, but it still works (and it’s my waffle iron!). i wonder if i can just find an old broken one at a yard sale so i don’t care that i’m getting ink all over it. will just have to keep my eyes open.
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I might have a look at a thrift shop, just out of curiosity. These small presses looks pretty nice. https://www.etsy.com/shop/WoodzillaShop I hesitate to invest because I can print pretty well without a press at the sizes these come in. Still it would speed me up. A home made one would save a bit of money but maybe add an equal amount of fussing around and potential aggravation.
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yeah, it dawned on me after i wrote that that my commute takes me past two goodwill stores every day. will be checking.
and $10-20 for a used panini press is a lot cheaper than the woodzilla ones.
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I think the attraction with a panini press is that the faces can be parallel regardless of the thickness of the opening - and that the press can accommodate a thick stack of material (i.e. two stiff wood faces for the upper and lower grill surfaces + thickness of the woodblock).
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those woodzilla presses are what started me on the path for a cheaper alternative.
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Terrific work — especially the registration! I am a printmaker and got into the Glowforge world to move away from the chemicals and sharp tools used to create plates. So far I have managed to cut my images into wood on the GF in relief and negative — single color. Examples below. Can you tell me what kind of ink you are using? I am still searching for the optimum. Poor results with speedball water based but better with Akua. The three- image plate was my experimenting with depth of cut.
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Looks great. I like the top one with the solid blocks of color. I’m using Caligo Safe Wash Relief inks. They are oil based, but they clean up with water. Word to the wise, if you get them, buy the tubes, even though you get more bang for your buck with the larger cans. It’s a mess to get the ink out of the can and you have to put a piece of plastic in to keep it from forming a skin, which makes it even more messy. I guess it’s twice as expensive in the tubes, though. It’s a little hard to tell because the tubes are sold by volume and the cans are sold by weight, and not all of the pigments are the same density 
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Jacaranda flowers just get everywhere, don’t they? Did you engrave these? The print you showed above is not from these plates is it? These are the negative, I think. Unless? The black part is engraved? Sorry I’m a bit confused. I did cut many of the shapes out, engraving details when the spaces were not too large. I had trouble just using engraving because I was getting paint on the negative parts, because the engraving wasn’t really all that deep. Also it takes forever and stinks.
The plates shown are all relief. I used the engrave process at a slow speed to leave the raised printable parts in relief cutting away around the image. It takes a while for the GF to do the cuts if the images are large. It’s just like cutting away the linoleum or wood with a knife.
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The photos were taken before inking. Large rubber Brayer rolls the ink across the relief surface only. Before printing in press or with a baron you wipe away any ink that hit the non print area. Here are two cuts of the same image — one relief (appears light where it will be inked) and the negative which the image(appears dark on the plate) will be “white” and the surface colored when inked. Make sense?
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Tanks for the ink reference. I will try it!
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Yes, I had trouble with the wipe away part because the rough engraved surface was thirsty for the paint, or because it was large enough for me to smudge ink into it but smaller than my finger with a wipe wrapped around it. I see what that plate was, now that I know it was before you inked it.
That would be “thanks”. Egads spell check. Since you recognize Jacaranda blooms, any chance you are in Arizona. My studio is in Scottsdale.
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Long Beach, California. A very purple and sticky town at the moment. I do love the look of them, but I’m glad my neighbor has one, not me.
Yes, very messy but beautiful in bloom. If you are interested take a look at my web gallery. Leafdogpress.com and my image gallery at Leafdogart.com. Have a great day. And stay in touch with any future prints.
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