I was commissioned to make a tile. Being so new to all this, I really wanted to get this right. I had completed my first tile etching as a black and white high contrast image I drew myself. This time I was asked to etch a photograph. Not only my first photo, but a really bad photo too…her left ear is actually flipped backward and I was asked not to photoshop it…ugh. So low res and not a very artistic shot. It is a photo of a dearly beloved dog, end of her years. This is to be a memorial. I felt honored to be asked to do this, and also feeling alot of pressure to get this right for the grieving owner.
So…I did two different settings with two different mediums - sharpie and acrylic marker.
Cleaning was with paper towel and a bit of water as needed.
First engrave run - full speed, full power, LPI 450 passes 1
Sharpie on the left, Acrylic marker on the right
Second engrave run - full speed, power 80, LPI 450 passes 2
Sharpie
Acrylic
I think the 2 pass method is softer and maybe I will try it again using a different cleaning method, but I think I will use the acrylic with 1 pass in the first image. It is sharper than I like, I would prefer it to be more lifelike, but at this point, I think it is the best of the four images.
Here’s the original photo I had to work with
I did just a bit of touch up in my image to make her a bit more youthful.
Final run of this image and the one I am going to settle on.
full speed, power 80, LPI 450 passes 2, oil based sharpie and cleaned with a bit of water and magic eraser. There is a bit more softness. I looked over the image again to see what the issue is with the A. The swirl is there and it shows in the UI, possibly it is too thin of a line to engrave? I am leaving it as the flaw that will always bother me!