Painting wood

[peepster64]

I want to make a layered project with a different color on each layer. Should I paint the wood before or after I cut it? Thanks!

[ChristyM]

It’s generally much easier to paint first, assuming there’s nothing crazy happening in the paint. Just let the paint dry completely before lasering.

[evansd2]

Welcome. Prepainting can be really nice, I’ve made a few mandalas, some of them were painted first.

Here’s a list:
https://community.glowforge.com/search?q=%40evansd2%20in%3Afirst%20mandala%20%23glowforge-project-examples

In particular:

The Mandala Ultimatum

[image] So, this is my attempt at a first-surface painted mandala. I wanted to try to achieve a gradient from a pure blue to a pure green, I think it went well. I’m fairly new to paint mixing and color theory, so this has been an interesting learning experience. This is the third mandala in this series, links to the others are below if you haven’t seen them yet. It’s different from the blue one in that I didn’t paint the edges, I’m trying to find that sweet spot between vibrant custom col…

[caribis2]

When I don’t paint the edges, I paint first. When I paint the edges, I cut first and paint second. Note that painting over the char eventually works, but it’s best to remove the char first and then do your normal paint prepping of the material.