Lepus Californicus (and sealing ?)

My first charity piece made for an auction. (I haven’t removed all the masking yet.)

Question; anyone have success leaving the masking on areas and sealing the entire piece? I love the look and would like to keep it.

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That looks great, and keep us posted if sealing the masking works.

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A couple of coats of spray lacquer should work.

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That’s what I was thinking too. Might give it a try.

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Also, shellac seals paper pretty well with multiple layers. I’m not sure if you can find it in a spray can though.

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I very much like the concept of three colors left by selective demasking. I’ll be listening for how it comes out.

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Some times the lacquer will cause the glue on the paper to bubble & you might have more of a problem than you want. you may want to try it on a sample piece 1st.

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Next time, you could pull off those parts and color it. The mask may lose its stickyness and bubble up or slide around before a coating dries…

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Absolutely test it on a scrap first!
Like @smcgathyfay says, if the solvent in the finish dissolves the glue on the masking you will be unhappy. I would also be concerned if you want this to last. I doubt the masking adhesive is designed to hang on for that long, especially if it is exposed to sunlight.

Next time around the idea of demasking the “white” parts and painting them first might be your best bet.

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Wouldn’t demasking them and painting them first cause some charring of those surfaces when later cutting/engraving though?

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See, that’s what I was thinking too. I would think it would eventually react and degrade the tape, but that’s based on pure speculation and not experience.

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Yeah, I figured that’d be the best option. The matte surface of the tape made for really nice effect though and I was just toying with the idea of trying to keep it.

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Paint, let dry completely, remask with blue tape!
(or any other laser safe masking)

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I think the idea was to remove the tape in the areas you wanted to paint after the laser cutting was done. But to your question, you can actually laser over painted wood and it looks wonderful!

This fellow named Diego Scagli Rat is a master at it and does amazing work with painted wood. He does a light laser score of the areas he wants to paint . He then uses acrylic paint and then goes back over and engraves it a final time.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/EngraversDungeon?ref=s2-header-shopname

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Got it. I really like this look with a different color in there.

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That is insane! Thanks for showing it.

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You’re welcome. Diego is really generous about sharing his technique too. He has a few YouTube videos showing what he does. :wink:

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i’ve followed a lot of diego’s work on one of the laser cutter groups on facebook, it’s pretty amazing stuff.

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Just putting this here because I’m gobsmacked by the detail you can get with a laser. I want to pew pew all the things! :boom::flushed::grinning::boom::fire:

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That’s stunning! Is that one of your drawings? :grinning:

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