My dad is a retired policeman and keeps himself busy with a jewelry company catering to police and fire.
One of his big sellers is St. Michael themed pieces, interestingly the police and fire fields both still have very strong Catholic influences today.
Anyway, I shot him a couple photos of some of the items I ran through the Glowforge today and he shot back a photo of a new design asking if it could be done. The photo he sent was actually a picture he shot with his phone while we were talking, a photo… of a photo, on his computer screen. Of course I told him if we had line art it would come out much better. He said he will get the artwork from his die maker.
Well, just for giggles, I ran the photo he sent. Did a little perspective correction, boosted the image contrast for the second attempt. Also on the second attempt I decided instead of the single score line between the engraving edge and the cut edge, I would run a set of concentric scores. That came out really cool! I didnt measure anything, just eyeballed a bunch of offsets and ended up with a neat texture.
I’ve got a lot of files ready to go, but you’re inspiring me to keep making more. I’ll probably blow through them in a couple weeks! I’ll hit the computer after I’m done custom making my new forge desk (the first one I started to second guess).
Spent some time cleaning up the artwork, below is the 5th iteration. Keep in mind the total height of this piece is only 2". The engraving is 1mm+ deep! Those narrow walls in the design are super thin and completely preserved!
PG solid maple
Settings are bone stock, except I set the engrave for two passes.
I may or may not have spent too much money on a statue of St. Michael that now lives in my basement. It’s a great way to make any visitors think I’m insane. The only issue is he’s missing his wings. I don’t think there’s any hope of recovering the original wings, so I’m trying to figure out the best option for replacements.
My dad’s going to get line work from his jewelry die maker for some of his bigger sellers and send to me so we can develop a laser engraved product line.
He lost his sword, but they gave him some weird crusader flag in its place. He has the shield though. I think I need to find someone to carve some wings out of wood.
First thing that comes to mind is to preserve all of the detail by gently pouring epoxy all over the words and design. Also, Have you tried reversing the order and have it engrave the design part instead of the relief effect?
Finally, what is the intended use? I keep thinking as a necklace pendant, or kind of like a worry stone in someone’s pocket. With both of those applications, the thin lines here would eventually break without something to reinforce them. (brain of a woodworker, always thinking about the final use and how things hold up, sorry)
Did a little perspective correction, boosted the image contrast for the second attempt. Also on the second attempt I decided instead of the single score line between the engraving edge and the cut edge, I would run a set of concentric scores. That came out really cool! I didnt measure anything, just eyeballed a bunch of offsets and ended up with a neat texture.
I might burn through them too quickly at this rate. 
! Thanks for sharing your projects.