Video: Engraving the Japanese Madonna

I figured some of you might be curious to see some more of the process that goes into making these engravings, so I made this video which very quickly takes you through the steps I use. In case it's not entirely clear in the video, here are the steps written down:

• cut the 1/4" thick panel (which is 12" x 24") into 3 roughly equal sized pieces
• sand each piece smooth to 320 grit to remove any roughness to the grain
• set up the laser cutting machine (raster at max power and speed, vector cut at 20% speed and 100% power for 2 passes) and press start
• watch it engrave
• remove from machine and rub off soot from edges with dry paper towel (not shown)
• rub a generous amount of boiled linseed oil into the panel with a plastic disposable glove, then rub with a dry and clean paper towel to remove excess
• allow to dry for 48 hours
• (also not shown) add picture frame hanger to back

The image used here is my own design, inspired by the work of an anonymous cloistered Carmelite nun in Tokyo. The engravings are done on a 1/4" thick piece of wood, which is first sanded before being engraved, cleaned, and finally finished with a coating of linseed oil.

The image for this engraving was made in MyPaint, tweaked in GIMP, and vectorized in Inkscape. The laser is a 40watt CO2 cutting laser.

Music: Moth Returns by Professor Kliq
CC Licensed, BY-NC-SA
http://www.professorkliq.com