Do you need to follow steps to engrave white tile painted black?

My answer is an emphatic NO!
I tried it for the first time today, and I didn’t do ANY IMAGE PROCESSING!
I had a feeling all these posts on Facebook and other platforms were B.S.
Here’s the result of just slapping on a tile and burning it:

Yeah, Lightburn can do that.

What do you think?
Video out tomorrow of the quick process…

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Lightburn’s photographic capability is a lot better than people realise. But some photos need tweaking if you need to lighten just a small spot here and there.

All the steps out there are now obsolete, but people continue to make money off the uninformed.

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I think for a first attempt it came out great.

The crazy thing about it is, all you have to do is criticize the process and the crazies come out! I actually had to delete my post at the Norton Den of Laser Facebook group and leave the group today! This post drove several “really educated” members as well as an admin into a manic rage!

I’m not into that narcissistic crap! I do this as a hobby and to have fun, learn and teach where I can. I’ve been telling people for the longest time that image processing is unnecessary in other programs; just import the image, adjust it in the adjust image GUI in Lightburn if needed and go! But some people are just set in their ways, and aren’t open to new ideas. It’s a shame they have to act like spoiled children on the Internet…

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I guess a lot of people have put so much time and effort into going through the process to get a perfect finish they just can’t bring themselves to admit they’ve been wasting their time but as i wasted a lot of tiles and time :thinking: trying my own way and not getting a great finish…
I quit trying when i ran out of tiles :unamused:

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Came out great. Newbie here just getting started and seeing people’s results and what works for them helps a lot. Thanks for sharing!

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un tres grand bravo Richard superbe travail :clap: :clap:

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Thank you!

I’ve been punted from a few groups and called all kinds of nasty names for similar.

One in particular has either told group members that I “stole his process”, or just not corrected them when they said it, which is insane. He offered it to me, and I still have the chat showing my refusal - I worried that the code I was already in the process of writing would produce similar enough results that I could be accused of theft, and the only way to prevent that was to decline entirely, which I said to him at the time.

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Hi Richard, once again, a great video, really learn a lot from your tutorials.
Lightburn is such a powerful software, and always something new to learn and try.
Thanks again, and keep them coming.

Thank you Alun!

Hi Rich,
I too really like your videos.
One question though.
Why did you use black paint instead of white primer.
It is my understanding that the white has more titanium dioxide which is what burns into the tiles.
Here are a few that I did using the white primer.
I put a non skid backing on them and sell them as coasters.



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I love your work! So, all you are applying is white primer?

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If you are happy with your results, what difference does it make what others say. They have their opinions and you have yours. Some folks like to experiment and some don’t. Some like to capture as much as possible and not lose the details. There is definitely a difference in “originals” we use and some surely need some editing.

Very nice Jan! No, no reason, Just took a guess at how to try it after seeing people do it on other platforms. I’ll surely try your method too!

Thank you all for the replies.
I buy my tiles from Lowes and the process is as follows.

  1. Give each tile a wipe with a paper towel whetted with Acetone.
    (you would be surprised what can come off of them)
    2( Paint with the white primer
  2. Burn the tile
  3. Wash with Acetone to get all of the paint off.
    This is the results.
    The Image will not come off by any means.

I tried using Gimp and Imagr,
I simply don’t get the results that others have.
I strictly use LightBurn for all of my work.

But again, It is my understanding that its the titanium dioxide in the white paint that gets burned into the tiles.

Now I must give credit where credit is due.
I learned this process from Nicky Norton.

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Sorry, I forgot to mention that the best thing you can do is to produce a test tile so you can find the “sweet” spot for your laser.
As you can see, mine is at about 20 IPM at 30% power.
J-Tech Watt Pro.

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Test burns are essential for any new material. In fact, even materials you’ve engraved on before may require one! When I do wood, I have to burn a test every time, since the wood varies from day to day in moisture content where I live.

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I really wish this worked on Co2 lasers…