TILE LASER ART - Multi Colored Dragon Circle

There are a lot of questions on Facebook, and other social media, on how to make a tile have a colored picture on it. This Instructable will show you on how to take a new or upcycled tile and create a multi colored picture from it.

To make the tile laser art you will need a digital image, color or grayscale. We will prepare the different colors on the tile, test your laser for color/gray separation and finally engrave the layers of paint off the tile to reveal the colored artwork.

This instructable spends a lot of time tuning your software/laser combination. You should already have a laser and the software to run it. While my steps are for the XTool P2, similar settings will be for your setup.

Attached to the steps are the images needed to create the Dragon Circle tile. If you follow this Instructable your end result will be the picture above.

Enjoy!

Supplies/Materials

1. A notebook and pencil
2. Dragon Circle digital image (first image above is what we are making in this Instructable)
3. Laser Software
4. 2 pieces of tile, any size (I used a white 8"x8" for this Instructable)
5. Soap and water
6. Denatured Alcohol
7. Colored Cans of Paints
8. A test grid for your laser (web or within your software)
9. An old catalog or similar (Uline, Phone book)
10. Clear Preservative Paint
11. A soft toothbrush

Tools

1. A laser engraver (CO2 or Blue Light laser - I used a CO2 laser)

Note: To make the tile laser art you need a white tile in any size, gloss or textured, its your choice. The textured tiles gives an additional cool look.

Picture Descriptions

1. Grayscale Dragon Circle art
2. Color Dragon Circle art
3. Balloon artwork
4. Square Dragon artwork

Choosing An Image

Before you begin, you will need to know what you want the end result of your Tile Laser Art to look like. In this instructable we are using the Dragon Circle above. I have also included some other art that I have used this technique on.

1. For this project, we are using the image of a dragon in a circle (first image above) with 7 colors.
2. For the picture of a balloon, I used 5 colors: gold first, then silver, then light brown, then dark brown, then black.
3. For the square picture of a dragon I used 4 colors. red, yellow, purple, and black.

For our Dragon Circle, we are using these colors; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and lastly black for the image that is being created (Dragon Circle first and second pictures above.)

The last color you spray will be your background color. I prefer use black, but this is up to the artist. If you were using an ocean scene with birds and no background, you may want to have a blue background color. This is the layer that will not be lasered off.

Image Compatibility

Be sure to load the Dragon Circle image into your laser software to make sure its compatible.

Common Terms

The laser process for making your tile laser art is called a number of terms; engraving, rastering, or etching. For simplicity, I am using Engraving to mean all three of these terms.

Test Array or Test Grid = grid

The settings that can be adjusted for your laser may include

1. Power Range = power
2. Dots Per Inch = dpi
3. Dot Duration = speed

Taking Notes

There are a number of places I suggest recording the numbers for speed, dpi and power. This is so when you change your image in your software, you will have the ranges already and you wont have to test again to get them.

Picture Descriptions

1. 8"x8" Square White Tile

Tile Choice and Prep

The choice of tile is really not critical. I have used ceramic tile and slate. The tile can have a texture or be smooth. Do not use marble, the paint will not stick well, even if you sand it with emery cloth. I use 8"x8" white tiles for this Instructable.

1) To start with, take your pieces of tile and give them a bath. Just soap and water is fine. Dry it very well.

2) Clean the tile with denatured alcohol to get any leftover debris off it. Let it dry for a few minutes.

3) There is no need to sand the tile.

To create a paint area, I recommend using an old catalog to catch any overspray (ULine, phone book). Turning the pages will give you a fresh canvas to paint on for each color.

Picture Descriptions

1. Rust-Oleum Paint

READ Your paint can! Most paints can be recoated with the the same brand color within the first 20 minutes, some as short as 2 minutes. Your can will tell you what the times are. For my paint, Rust-Oleum, I can apply multiple coats of the same color within 2 minutes and another color before 6 hours. My timing is about 20 minutes between color changes.

To add the next color, again, read the label. I can touch my paint within 20 minutes and handle it within an hour, but I can only add colors onto it within 6 hours or after 24 hours. This is critical. The paint may appear dry to the touch, but will continue to dry and out-gas in the first 24-48 hours. This means that putting a coat on after the 6 hours (for my paint) will cause the paint to Bubble or Wrinkle. So if you miss your recoat time, wait the full time listed on the can.

Picture Descriptions

1. - 7. Pained layers in order
2. Finished Art

Painting Background

I start by painting the color that will be the BACK in the image I am using, The software I use assigns the most power on black and the least power on white. Since the layers are based on the power, make your colors in the order of darkest to lightest with the exception of the background color which is sprayed last.

For this Instructable, I am using a rainbow of colors (7 total) sprayed in this order: red, blue, purple, green, orange, yellow and black. The last color is black as I want my finished picture to have a black background.

We want even layers of paint.

Note: If you get a run, or splatters, don't freak out! Just let it dry the normal time and continue on with the next color. With luck, the run will not show up once the final process is done.

Painting The Tile

1) Shake the heck out of your paint can. If you do not, the paint will come out in splatters.

2) Hold the paint can 8" to 10" from the tile, never over the tile. Some of my paint cans drip.

3) Paint a light layer. Spray in a sweeping motion side to side overlapping slightly. It is best to paint in one direction, let off the nozzle and start in the opposite direction. Letting off the nozzle keeps thick edges from forming and helps prevent runs and drips.

4) Once you have sprayed your light coat on the tile, wait a minute or so and spray the same color again with the tile at 90 degrees to where you started. So if you went left to right on your first layer you will go up and down on your second layer.

5) Wipe the nozzle clean.

NOTE: If you can see white or the previous color through your color, its not thick enough, wait a few minutes and repeat steps 3 and 4.

6) Set a timer for 20 minutes(or based on your paint). When the timer goes off, its time for the next color. Go back to step 1 in this section and start again for each color.

Once all the colors have been painted, wait the full cure time (mine is 24-48 hours.) This will cut down on the burning paint smell and reduce changes of the paint flaring up into little fires (not more than 1/4".)

Picture Descriptions

1. Test Tile
2. Sample Alignment Pattern
3. Test Grid picture

Some Background

For the next steps, you will need one of the two tiles you painted. This will be your test tile. I would suggest using an 8"x8" tile so you can get at multiple tests on the one tile. In the third picture, you can see I have a lot of try's on my 8"x8" test tile.

You will need a software that is compatible with your laser. I use XTool Creative Studio (SCX) with my P2 CO2 Laser.

NOTE: If your program or laser does not support a camera for displaying the tile's location within the laser bed, make a pattern to align the tile.

Tile Alignment Pattern

1) Make a test rectangle that is the size of your tile.

2) Place it in your program so that it is in the middle of the laser bed.

NOTE: When you are Engraving an image with the laser, the laser head will swing wide of the actual image. If you put your image close to the edge, the laser could jam or crash into the side of the laser housing.

3) Set the power to score at a low power and the speed at a high speed. You just want to mark the paper, not cut the paper out.

4) Put a piece of paper in the center of your laser and secure it to the bed/honeycomb/plate with tape. I use thick craft paper for this step.

5) Send the rectangle to the laser to draw out the rectangle. This is where you want to place your tile.

You should now have a 8"x8" square in somewhere within the the paper you placed. Do not move this paper.

Additional Information

The third picture above is my testing drawing and is attached below. The test grid and the grayscale Dragon Circle image used in this tutorial can be found in later steps.

Word of warning, engraving paint stinks. Make sure your laser is well vented to a scrubber or to the outside.

Things I Have Tried

I have 2 lasers, a CO2 (Xtool P2) and a Blue Light laser (Xtool F2). Using the Xtool Creative Space (XCS) tool "Material Test Array" I created a 10 x10 matrix to test the 2 machines. This gave me a gradient based on how the power to speed squares come out. The above grid picture cannot be used as it is just a picture. I have attached an XCS file and an SVG file with my test graphics in them.

For the CO2 laser, I set the starting power to 10% with a max of 100% and a speed from 5% to 100%, dpi of 100. The results were good, all the squares were shades of gray and some colors.

For the Blue Light laser, I created a 10x10 Test grid. Setting the starting power to .1% with a max of 100%, a speed from 10 to 15000 and dpi of 100. I found my colors were coming out considerable different from the CO2.

Since the CO2 is more common, this Instructable will cover the process for this laser. The Blue light or and IR laser can also be used, but the numbers will have to be different.

Attached are 2 files. The first is an .xcs file for all my testing below. To use it, you will need to change the extension to .xcs It contains all my testing for this project. The other is an .svg. This file will start you with a 5x5 matrix, but with no power or speed settings. It is for a software that there is no test grid available on the web.

The second file is an .svg file, it has all the squares, but no speeds, power, or dpi. You can use it to set a value for each square.

You must do both of the following Tests or you will not have the settings right for your laser art!

Each laser and software has different sets of setting types. For my CO2 and Blue Light lasers, these include power, speed and dpi. I have posted the full set of settings I use at the end of each step for my setup.

Picture Descriptions

1. Picture of a sample test grid
2. Picture of the Materials Test Array Array settings (MTA) from XCS
3. Comparison of First and Final MTA and engraving
4. Picture of some of my testing grids
5. Video of making a MTA in XCS (as an attachment below)

Test Grid

The test grid is an array of engraved squares that changes the speed and power as the engraving moves from the upper left to the lower right. In the grid above(sample test grid), the power is along the bottom and the speed along the side. The bottom right corner has 10% speed and 100% power. This is the deepest engraved square you will see. That is where you should see red but most likely you will see white (the tile). The top left square is the most shallow square, it should show yellow (100% speed and 10% power), your lightest color. The squares in between should contain the other colors painted on your test tile plus some intermediate colors. For example, yellow + orange.

If you are using XCS, the video below will help you use your "Material Test Array".

The last test I ran is in the last picture above, The numbers came after many tries, and you may gain some idea of what numbers and what you should be seeing one your test tile for your setup.

Starting Numbers

For your first grid us the lowest and highest numbers you can, this gives you a place to start.

1. 10% to 100% Power (if yours is not a % go from lowest to highest)
2. 10 to 600 Speed (use your max)
3. 300 DPI (use your max)

Ending Numbers

1. 20% to 40% Power (20% from lowest, 40% from highest)
2. 400 to 500 Speed (66% from lowest, 83% from highest)
3. 260 DPI (NA% from lowest, 86% from highest)

Testing

1) Create an Engrave test grid for your laser. At least a 5x5 square grid. These can be created in some software or downloaded from the web for just about every software out there.

Note: You are Engraving not scoring or cutting for this to work correctly

2) Make your test grid small as you may need to repeat this step a few times.

3) Position your grid in a unused area on your tile. I start at the top left and work across then down for each test.

If your program or laser does not have a camera for showing the tile, make a pattern to align the tile. (Step 5 Testing Your Laser, Pattern)

4) Turn on the dust collector.

5) Start the test program - IMPORTANT if the squares start engraving through the paint to the tile or you have flames (little flames are ok 1/4" MAX), stop your machine. Your power is too high or dpi is to high or speed is to slow. Remake your test grid with new settings. Don't waist the area you started with, see if you can reuse most of it.

6) When the laser is done, wipe the area clean with water and a soft toothbrush. If there are still some area where you have smoke residue, try a little alcohol. Don't rub to hard or the paint will come off.

7) if the grid shows sections where you can see all the colors on your test tile, you are done move to step 8.

If you are not happy with the grid, or only some colors are not showing try these:

1. If you are seeing deep areas then you need to lower your power or dpi or raise the speed range(s).
2. if all you see are shades of gray, raise your power or dpi or lower your speed range(s).
3. Your test grid should have enough variation that the power, dpi and speed between each square to be enough to engrave through one or more of the layers of paint.

Go back to step 1 and create a new test grid or modify the one you have and try again. It took me more than 12 try's to get my numbers right. Hopefully with this Instructable, you will find your numbers sooner.

8) Record the power, speed and dpi that contains the colors. These will be the settings for your image.

NOTE: No 2 lasers are exactly the same. My numbers are for my P2, but other P2s may need tweaks.

In the last image above, the top-right test grid was what I got my numbers from.

The Grid Test Results were:

1. XCS + P2 are 27% power, 600 speed and 300 dpi
2. XCS + F2 are 10%-45% power, and 250ms dot duration and 300 dpi.

Picture Descriptions

1. Color and grayscale circle dragons
2. Some testing of the circle dragon
3. Test no red
4. Test with red (XCS 30% power, 600 speed, 300 dpi)

Outputting Your Art

Once you have your speed, dpi and power ranges to your liking, and recorded, its time to test your image.

The first time I tried this I went through 4 tiles (using the full size image) trying to get the numbers right. This is why we do mini versions on the same tile.

1) Using the Dragon Circle image, set your software/laser up based on the Laser Test from the last step. Speed, power and dpi.

2) Shrink your image to 1/4 the size (or smaller) of your test tile and place it in an unused location.

3) If your program or laser does not have a camera for showing the tile, make a pattern to align the tile. (Step 5 Testing Your Laser, NOTE)

4) Turn on the dust collector.

5) Start the test program - IMPORTANT if the tile start engraving through the paint to the tile or you have flames (little flames are ok 1/4" MAX), stop your machine. Your power is too high, lower the highest power setting. Don't waist the 1/4 you started with, see if you can reuse most of it. If you need to start clean, move to another 1/4 or the tile.

NOTE: The image may be a bit grainy so small, you want to see the colors, not necessarily the perfect picture.

6) if you need to made changes to the power, duration or dpi, make small changes to one variable at a time. Write the new numbers down for later projects. Go back to Step 1 in this section and test the new numbers.

7) When you have a good looking image on your test tile, (and you wrote the settings down) you can continue.

My mini Dragon Circle was a grayscale version engraved at 1/6 its size (in the second picture above.) As said above, its a bit grainy as its tiny.

In the second picture, you can see some of my tests for the Dragon Circle. It took many try's to find the correct settings for my laser; 30% power, 600 speed and 300 dpi.

Picture Descriptions

1. High power, more red (XCS P2 30% power, 600 speed, 300 dpi)
2. Medium power, more blue (XCS P2 24% power, 600 speed, 300 dpi)
3. Less power, more green(XCS P2 18% power, 600 speed, 300 dpi)

At this point you are going to run the REAL Dragon Circle, Above are the 3 variations on the settings I got in the "Step 7: Engraving the Test Image" steps of. I am using the settings for the first one, that shows some red. (XCS P2 30% power, 600 speed, 300 dpi.)

Make Art

At this point you should have speeds and power, the grayscale or color image you have picked of the Dragon Circle, and a fresh clean painted tile (we made 2 earlier.)

1) Make your image just smaller than the tile, so it does not fall off the edge.

If your program or laser does not have a camera for showing the tile, make a pattern to align the tile. (Step 5 Testing Your Laser, NOTE)

2) If you are just scaling up the image used in the testing, then your numbers are already set. If not assign the numbers you recorded for speed and power or grayscale range. Make sure, if you made a pattern, your tile is in the center of it.

3) Turn on the dust collector.

4) Run your program.

Note: If the image starts burning or the engraving is too deep or is on fire (more than seen in your testing), stop the engraving process and check your numbers.

5) Gently rinse off any burnt ashes left on your engraving. Use your fingers or a soft toothbrush to rub the image as a cloth can snag lifted edges. If there is still soot, you can try a little denatured alcohol (caution, some paint may dissolve with alcohol.)

6) Let the tile dry without using a towel, this can pull up some of the painted edges.

Hopefully you got your correct numbers in testing and your image came out amazing!

Picture Descriptions

1. My clear of choice
2. Final artwork

Almost done

Once the laser has made your masterpiece and its clean of soot, you will need to protect it with a clear coat. If you look really close, you will see that there are little spots or color, this is the gradient of the colors and is normal. See the second picture above, the tail has some of these speckles. The clear coat will grab all these and make them so they cannot be pulled off.

I use "Krylon Preserve It!" It is a very gentle clear coat designed for artwork and photos. Before you apply a light coat, make sure you are in your window of painting (read the can.) If the can says 24 hours or more then make sure it has been at least 24 hour since you sprayed your last coat of color. If not the entire piece will crackle and wrinkle up.

For whatever clear you use, make sure it is the same type as your paint. If you used acrylic paint, you must use an acrylic clear. Enamel is the same way, enamel clear over enamel.

Preserving Your Art

1) Shake the heck out of your paint can. If you do not, the paint will come out in splatters.

2) Hold the paint can 8" to 10" from the tile, never over the tile. Some of my paint cans drip.

3) Paint a very light layer. Very light layers of clear are what you are looking for.

4) Once you have sprayed your light coat on the tile, wait for some time, I wait 10 minutes. if you went left to right on your last layer you will go up and down on your next layer and vise versa.

5) Wipe the nozzle clean between layers.

6) Set a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, its time for the next clear layer. Go back to step 1 in this section and repeat until your art looks the way you want it to.

You are done. Let the tile dry for the touch time on your can. Mine is 20 minutes to touch, 1 hour to use, 24 hours before dry. I wait 2 days before really touching it as it gets fingerprints before then.

Optional

You can pour a layer of epoxy or resin over your tile if you want the surface flat. I do not cover that here, but there are plenty of epoxy/resin Instructables out there.

Picture Descriptions

1. 3mm wood stand for tile
2. Finished art on the stand

Stand

I have included a simple 2 part stand as an SVG file. This can be uploaded into any CAD program (or most.) It is designed for 3mm/1/8" plywood/acrylic.

If you want it taller or shorter, change the top arc only, scaling the whole element will cause the slots to change width.

If you want to use a thicker or thinner piece of wood/acrylic, adjust the slots to the thickness of the wood/acrylic.

Once cut out, the 2 parts slot together to make the stand.

Paint or put on a clear coat over the wood as you want. Clean the edges of the acrylic with fine sandpaper if needed.

Now that you have gotten here, you should have been able to create a work of art for you and others to enjoy. Thank you for reading my Instructable.

To be honest, my favorite laser tile projects use only 4 colors including black. Using the rainbow (7 colors) is much more difficult than just the 4 colors. Your project should be what you want. Sunsets look great with red, orange and yellow with a black background.

Please share any tips and tricks or questions below!

Best wishes,

Laura