Needing some creative help here. A friend asked me if I could make a metal medallion to attach to the top of his humidor - about 3x3. I told him I’d give it a try. Got some anodized aluminum and set out on the quest.
For starters, the source JPG is pretty poor and I may need to somehow recreate in Illustrator or something. But here’s what came of it after several different power settings.
Any ideas on how to make this look cool? I guess I’m not set on aluminum being the source, but that’s what he asked for. Still new to engraving as a whole and this is my first aluminum one.
I’m assuming that this is an unofficial patch and no real artwork is available. If it were me, I’d go to fiverr.com and get someone to clean it up and convert to a vector.
Seems like it would be simple enough to recreate that image, especially with eflyguy’s image. Fiverr would work, too, but I think the learning experience on how to manually trace this would be more beneficial.
Definitely vectorize the patch if you can - you will get much crisper lines.
But one other thing you can do is to use a really high LPI when you engrave it. It takes a lot longer to do, but high definition engraving/etching on anodized metal is the one time it really pays to use a high LPI value.
My thinking is to make a 3d image on hard wood large enough beyond to place a thick foil (like a pie plate or similar) that can be fastened in place not to move and using a rubber hammer or some such means of applying still pressure, press the aluminum against the wood enough to conform to the design and perhaps get to something similar to a notary stamp on paper.
I have experimented with this with encouraging results though enough pressure without the mold moving has been the biggest issue.
