Recently I have taken to masking on demand. I have found that the stuff I masked and allowed to sit for a spell gave me trouble with unmasking. Glue sets up eventually I suppose.
As to masking - blue painters tape works well. Pretty much NEED gorilla tape to unmask it once it has been heated though.
It was what I used at first until I found this
https://www.amazon.com/TransferRite-Ultra-582U-Medium-Transfer/dp/B01D3UZLIO
Used correctly it works very well. You can even remove it with the blue painters tape usually, or as a last resort use the gorilla tape to unmask.
Correctly means to use a scraper and flatten it well on the lumber, especially the edges so no air can cause a flap. Then trim excess if it seems to overhang too much.
I even lightly sand some of the woods before I squeegee it on.
If in a hurry, I have just hand smoothed it on, but that has a tendency to get loose at times.
DO NOT USE THE BROWN PACKAGE TAPE. I tried some initially and I pretty much gave up on trying to get it all off. Sticks way too well.
Tip for engraving. If doing a deep’ish engrave like on text, etc then masking is ok and even allows you to paint into the engrave when done.
For art or photo though, no masking works best, since some lower power settings will not punch through a masking.
If edge char is still a concern though, you can design a light score around the engrave item and do that first with everything else ignored.
Then, being careful not to move anything, remove the scored area of masking and close up the lid.
Now you can ignore that first score, and enable the engraving and all the other process that you turned off in step one.
Have fun. Try new things. This is a very fun machine to own.