The last post about denim got me thinking we probably all have tried some unusual stuff. So I thought I’d share mine and hope others do the same.
My favorite unusual material is agate. 100% power/30% speed on a (30 watt laser). The laser turns the stone pure white. They made nice Christmas ornaments and they also make great clocks. Any rock shop will have a limited selection. A whole lot of natural beauty at a reasonable price and very laser friendly.
Another trick that works well but I haven’t figured a good product out yet are wood, stain and shellac. Shellac is a natural furniture finish. What is unique about shellac is that it is soluble only with alcohol. So if you first shellac the piece of wood. Then laser engrave through the thin shellac layer. Then rub the piece down with a dark oil based stain. Now wipe off the excess stain. Sometimes I also need to do a rub down with alcohol which will take a bit of the shellac off revealing the clean wood. The entire piece can then be painted again with shellac the next day. Basically the shellac acts as a mask to stain the wood.