How do I? Can you help

Can anyone share some tips on the process that creates this?

wood base
2 coats of paint
Laser etched graphics

See attached image for refference

You could do that a number of ways. The one that comes to mind for getting two-tone color like that is:

  • paint your board and let it dry
  • mask it with low-tack tape or laser safe transfer paper
  • laser engrave the mask away (or cut the outlines, but that means peeling)
  • paint the letter color
  • remove the mask
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You can also:

  • engrave the board, relatively deeply
  • paint the entire surface
  • wait for it to dry completely
  • sand the surface paint off (will leave the engraved areas painted)
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I’ve used the paper masking method with reasonably good results. I discovered that it can be useful to apply sanding sealer, (water based in my example) and sand it after it’s dried. Another coat of sealer, a bit less sanding, then masking.

The above process reduces the problem with the colors bleeding into the areas under the masking. It’s also important to use a brayer or similar roller to bond the masking paper to the wood surface. The sanding sealer and preliminary sanding helps in that respect too, as long as the freshly sanded surface is cleaned thoroughly of the sanding dust before applying the masking paper.

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Oz and Fred

Your Wisdom is ALWAYS APPRECIATED!

Thank you very much for your professional tips.

Oz, What would be considered safe laser masking?

If you search for “laser safe masking paper” a bunch of options should come up. I’ve also heard it called “application tape”.

Here is one reseller that offers several different manufactures. You can do your research from there for which “transfer” tape might best serve your application: https://www.signwarehouse.com/c/transfer-tape-application-tape

You are looking for paper tape. My personal preference for application on wood is this product series from RTape: http://www.rtape.com/product-lines/conform-series-with-rla

You can check the SDS / MSDS for products you plan to hit with the laser here as well: