I was more referring to the ceramic tiles. Those go deeper, right?
My ceramic engraving was not trying to go too deep. Here are a few close-ups of my detail.
@raymondking32 seems to be the ceramic tile master here, so he may have better answers for you. He does something similar to what you may be trying to do - shown above.
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Whoa, is this after you’ve engraved on the ceramic, or after you’ve done some fill? It looks like your glaze is getting melted rather than being vaporized.
In regards to this question, I’ve not tried using acrylic paint to fill my etchings. I’ve stuck solely to sharpies, but to give you a sort of answer, I guess it depends on the fluidity of the acrylic paint you’re using. The porous nature of the ceramic is quite absorbent, but it does wick is what I’ve found. I’d say it does goes “deep enough” to take acrylic paint, but your results may vary.
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This is after using a Sharpie to add color. Engrave / Speed 300 / Full.
I see that you used 1000 / Full. Maybe I was too slow?
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How did you color that? I am trying to make some stuff for a buddy and so far sharpy is not working great for me.
They used LaserTile. Do a search for it on this forum and you will find a lot of listings. It reacts to the laser beam and darkens. I just lasered the surface glaze and then used a Sharpie to blacken it. My approach cost about $0.16 for a 4.25” tile and $0.46 for a 6 inch tile.
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If you could post a pic from before you color it, that would give me a better idea, but I would assume that the slow speed is affecting the ceramic as well as the glaze and causing this effect. Could be wrong, though!
Do you use gloss spray over the Sharpie colors? I’m having issues with the color bleeding once I spray my tiles.
I have found that using painters tape on the tile, like a 4 by 4 tile from Lowe’s and running the glowforge at 600 speed and full power with two passes. Cuts nice and deep and allows for you to use acrylic paint after the cut and before you peel the tape to get a really decent quality coloring of the etch.
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I used both, gloss and matte. The gloss matched she sheen of the tile much better. The matte gave it a cool effect though.
I did not use spray, it was the cheapest acrylic bottle Walmart had in the crafting department and foam brush
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Are you having any bleeding issues? I’m trying to do some geometric patterns and the Sharpie bleeds over the cut edge on some of them, but not all of them. It’s getting frustrating. I don’t want to leave the tiles unfinished, but I haven’t found a reliable spray yet. What brand do you use?
I used the Rustoleum “clear spray,” which I’m not sure exactly what it is. Then, I used some clear spray lacquer. Both did pretty well. I like the lacquer better. They both stink a lot, but the lacquer dissipates pretty quickly. The smell from the other one lingers forever on the piece.
I don’t seem to be having any bleeding issues. I put a post of a few pieces I made a while back.
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Are you getting enough of an engrave? I usually use 600/Full (Pro)/225LPI. I find that speeding up or lower resolution results in shallower engraves with less of a “cliff” that can bleed. The deeper engraves hold the Sharpie better.
Vary power will be problematic because the low end of tonality will have reduced power delivered to the tile. Using a dot pattern will make all of the engraving at the max power and I don’t get a mix of shallow & deep engraves that leads to erratic inking.
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I’ve been doing 1000/Full(Pro)/450LPI … I’ll try slowing it down and see if it makes a difference. I’m cutting some more now, and I’m going to try baking them at 350 for 15 minutes. That’s been recommended on several blogs I’ve seen with just Sharpie and tiles. Sharpie recommends a fixative before the gloss spray too, so I’m putting that on my Home Depot list! 
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I started with the 1000 speed and didn’t get as good results as 600 (even 700 is noticeably not as good - although okay). I hate slowing it down that slow because I hate 2 1/2 hour jobs 
But I like the results better so I suffer the slowness.
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Art is pain, or something like that 
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I have used two different methods, one of which is a little cheaper. I used the same 2x aerosol clear i use for auto touch-ups and just sprayed the tile without masking. No need to scrape later as it levels the engraved with the not and provides a smooth clear finish. The more expensive is you can use a airbrush and either cover the complete tile for the same results as above, or lightly blow a clear over your pattern. With airbrushes, you get what you pay for. A higher end like and Eclipse can paint as fine as eyelash results and in my opinion more user friendly.
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I’m wondering now a year plus since this thread was most active how people’s tile sealants are holding up, and under what conditions. This fall I designed a set of engraved ceramic tiles that are in an outdoor application – at a pub as the table numbers glued to each table. Coloured them with sharpies, and sealed with a water-based sealant. Certain colours faded very quickly-- blues mostly, reds not at all-- of the ones in the sun in particular. The sealant was supposedly UV coated, and was suitable for outdoor use. I actually suspect the sealant itself is partly why the colours lifted, as I have one tile not sealed at all in my backyard that still looks great. I’m going to start a trial where I use different sealants on each tile and leave them all out in the elements. I’d love to know people’s experiences re: sealants (for regular sharpie colouring in particular, not the oil-based ones) at this point-- and I’ll do what I can to trial ones people have used. I relocated from US to UK earlier this year so couldn’t bring my spray lacquer type things with me, and can’t always get the exact same things here, but I’m working with what I can get.! First photos are how they looked before being installed… then you can see a couple where the blue in particular faded very badly, within 6 weeks.IMG_1468|500x500
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