Another New Project Kinda

Transcript

I’ve started base coating and I want to show you how terrible the first coat looks. We’re about two layers in—still seeing brush strokes, still looking pretty bad. But when you first base coat something, sometimes it just looks terrible. We’re in the terrible looking stage.

Surprise Laser Engraver

While waiting on base coats to dry, I got this as a gift from my dad—a laser engraver. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve always been interested in laser engraving, and this was a total surprise. Got the 30-day free trial software going and plugged it in.

I had a cutting mat under the engraver for safety. Then I Googled some things and found out that if the laser hits a PVC cutting mat, it releases toxic chlorine gas and corrosive hydrochloric acid. That little voice in my head was right—terrible idea. Moved it immediately.

First Engrave

My first attempt was going to take an hour, so I made the image much smaller. This is the first real-life thing I’ve put my full logo on. The grain in the wood caused some issues, but it did pretty good. It’s going to be a back-and-forth of learning how far I can push the power and speed without actually catching the wood on fire.

Definitely going to be a new thing for me. Because I definitely needed another project to figure out.

Back to Painting

Got more base coat work done on the miniature. You can see the paleness I’m going for—I think it’s going to be a good foundation for what we’re trying to accomplish tomorrow. Random hobby day with me: you never know what I’m going to be working on, because I never know what I’m going to be working on.

Oh, and those new dice? They sucked on their maiden voyage. Terrible. Didn’t roll a single six. They’re about to be in dice jail.