I’ve used laser foil on tile and on wood, so thought I’d like to do a bit of experimenting. Had some scrap Proofgrade thick acrylic which I used to make this design as a pin and/or pendant, but in reality, they’re way too large and I will need to pare them down in size. Some time ago, I had tried using embossing powder on acrylic and though it looked nice, it was very easy to scrape off. Today, I decided to test some different combinations of laser foil, embossing powder, resin, and paint pens.
I had already tested out using resin on acrylic and it works just great. Embossing powder will stay on IF you put resin over it….otherwise, it’s pretty flakey.
Laser foil also works just great. The second test with the foil, I masked with some blue tape, to keep the foil clean from the smoke…about which I obviously learned on the first try. If you get it applied very smoothly and it’s masked, it comes out really nice.
Mid-way though, I realized that I hadn’t flipped the text to be engraved, so did that and then had the aha moment that when you’re using laser foil, that doesn’t work. I mean it works, but if you view something from the back, with laser foil on it, it’s a different color than intended. Gold laser foil is silver on the back…which looks pretty cool too, but not what I was going for.
So, for using laser foil and acrylic, it would make a beautiful ornament as long as there is no text. It would spin around from gold to silver.
Gold side
Silver side
This one also has resin dotted on just over the scored circles which were painted in with paint pens.
Below is one without laser foil, but embossing powder for the heart and circles, with clear resin over just the circles. (and there’s a mess of embossing powder all over the place on this one)
Last but not least, here is what happens when you use laser foil and embossing powder;
When you use the heat gun on it to melt the powder, it affects the foil adversely
by bubbling and wrinkling all up. Plus, it’s very difficult to control the powder, as you can see it’s sort of all over the place on this one, too.
The answer seems to be acrylic with paint pens and resin….or laser foil with paint pens. For me anyway, it’s a definite no-go with embossing powder in the equation at all.
