The paper leaves the recording behind the glass, I think for glasses itās ideally on the outsideā¦ when I want to record on the surface, I use permanent black CD ink, but I think any ink will do, Tempera for example, then the recording turns white, I saw people using white ink (the same one used to engrave Norton tiles, with TiO2) and the engraving turns black.
EDIT: When you refer to Recording, is that another term for engraving? And the Ink you were talking aboutā¦ I thought you were using an analogy, but are you saying Ink is another option in place of soap and paper?
The post did confuse me a bit, which is probably more to do with me. But for clarification, I have a drinking glass and want to engrave something on it. Can you use your paper method with this scenario? What benefit would it serve? Would I put the paper (wet?) over/on top of the glass, or behind/inside of it.
Your results look beautiful and Im very interested in understanding your method. Please accept my apologies for any offense. Definitely not intended.
Donāt worry, Iām not offended, lol.
You would have to put the dry paper on the inside, but the recording would be on the inside of the cup, which I believe is not desirable. You can paint the area you want to record with black ink (I use those permanent ink pens to write on a CD surface), the recording will be outside the cup. Watch this video I make in a bottle:
Here the engraving behind the glass, with paper:
Feel free to ask. 
Ooooh, Oki doki. Makes a lot of sense. Do you know if the same principals apply for CO2?
Iāve never worked with CO2, but I think it burns directly, without any additives.
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Your laser frequency is absorbed by glass, so you donāt need any kind of āindirectā engraving method that the LED laser requires.
You should be able to engrave on a shot glass, but itās small and how well it will work depends on the kind of rotary you have and how well you have configured your controller for the rotary.
There are also ācoatingsā that bond by the lasers generated heat of the material. I use Laser Bond 100 but there are others out there that are similar.
Using Laser bond 100
Iāve done the back of mirrors and lots of cups/mugs, but donāt have any pictures of glass that Iāve done.
Good luck
Thank you for the feedback! Itās deeply appreciated! After seeing your post, I dove in to look at how the process works. Seems great for certain opaque materials, but is it meant for glass? I feel like Im still going to stick with Engraving for glass. But I did hope to confirm that you arenāt posting an image of the stainless steel tumbler as an example for the Bond, but then listing your experience with mirrors and cups/mugs as separate experience. Also, I donāt really see options for white/frosted. As I said, I looked at articles that explain how it works, so the lack of frost is definitely understandableā¦ but no white?
When you say that CO2 burns with no āadditivesā, are you referring to the masking options like tape and soap? If so, Id have to argue that since most information and videos Ive see posted, like that of @Sasquatch, They usually use some sort of masking. It might be seen as Ironic that I make this argument since I neglected to follow any of these methods prior to posting on this thread despite being vaguely familiar with said techniques. I guess I was just fixated on Image vs Vector Fill, and hadnāt considered that this thread was mainly for Diode and not CO2. @Sasquatch : do you have any thoughts or feedback? Your time would be greatly appreciated. Also, I think avoiding the intricate science behind your advice was smart. Using certain jargon is nice in some cases, but here I think it would only have served to show off how much one knows, versus helping noobs like me So, with deep appreciation, I thank you for taking us into consideration.
Sorry, I donāt consider the word āadditiveā as jargon, but what I meant, and what Wilborn said, is that you donāt have to do anything to etch glass with CO2, just put it under the laser and etch.
I think you are missing the basic pretense here.
The laser will effect only that type of material that absorbs the ābeamsā frequency. With glass, the IR frequency of the beam will be absorbed, heating the small area of glass and causing it to shatter. Same game happens with acrylic, except the acrylic usually vaporizes/melts rather than shatter.
How deep and big the ācratersā are depend on power, but mostly speed.
How ābigā the craters are determine how fine the dpi/lpi that you can attempt.
The speed you can lay down ādotsā is also related to lps (laser power supply) response time.
Even if I use the same natural material, the numbers will change somewhat because the material isnāt consistent.
Acrylic is much more dependable in regards to repeatability.
Thatās the basics.
Do people try other things? Sure, and itās encouraged. A common coating is dish soap, along with masking tape or other thingsā¦ Iāve tried it under about a mm of waterā¦
You can spread the effect of the beam by āde-focusā so you cover a larger area with less power. The actual resulting effect can only be determined by trial and error.
Think about whatās happening to the material. If you use masking tape what is it supposed to accomplish? Same with soap. I think most are attempts to improve the engraving quality with co2 machines or limiting the āshatterā size.
I encourage you to use some of these techniques and advise us of your success/failures so we can also profit from your experiences.
Good luck
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I wasnt referring to you when I said jargon. I deftinitely didnāt feel "addatives was over complex or anythingā¦ just not used to it Thank you for all your help
Actuallyā¦ there is just one more question I have for everyone. How do I know if an engraving is bad? Visually it looks great, but gently rubbing my thumb across it feeling a bit like sand paper, but instead of sand, its tiny tiny shards of glass.
I take steel wool to mine to knock off the glass shards. The pieces will end up in someones fingerā¦
Good luck, be looking for the photo of your workā¦
Take care
somehow you seem to miss the easiest to do, reducing power
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