My Lithos

[Shinny]

I finally got around to using my machine. I bought it a year ago, but I coach 2 kids in 2 sports - most of you know how it is. The dog is my brothers - it "WOWWED" him. The little girl was a surprise gift for a friend of ours. She has Cystic-Fibrosis. The pix for this litho I took off the internet. I was satisifed with the results - It brought tears to the mothers eyes. I couldn't have gotten a better value for my time, money & effort. Thanks to all who have posted on what this machine can do - I wish I could share the joy. I will tell you this - I have been asked for my business card many times because "people" will pay for specialized work. I tell them I already have a job. So there is an opportunity for added income for CW'ers. Good luck. I will help any way I can.

Shinny

[Router-Jim]

Those turned out absolutely fantastic! Great job!


Can I ask how long they took to carve?


Jim

[Bflat5]

Very nice indeed... What material did you use to make them with?

[Shinny]

Thanks - They took 1 hour 10 min. I also used an LED puck light. Portfolio # 240230. I bought them at Lowes for about $18. The flourescent puck light was too bright. Maybe my lithos are carved too thin. Its still a work in progress. I also tried a 2' rope light ($2.99 at Home Depot). results were ok at best.

The lithos are corian, the boxes are cherry

[Ron]

Very nice work,Shinny

[te54650]

The lithos are fantastic. Can I ask a couple of questions regarding them?
1. What color of corian did you use and also thickness?
2. What settings did you use for the carvings?
3. What did you do to the photos to import them to the carvewright?
I have tried on white acrylic and there is no color definition when put up to a light. Is it the corian that when put in front of a light adds the color definition?

Thanks a lot

Terry

[Shinny]

The color of corian is cameo white .25" thick. Settings are depth .150, height of 40. I use photoshop to convert to grayscale (removes color), Invert (creates the "negative" look). save. Open carvewright, import image,invert (this makes the lighter areas thinner). set board settings, depth, height. Then let the machine make you look like you know what you're doing. Good luck.

[hotpop]

Shinny,


Invert (creates the "negative" look). save. Open carvewright, import image,invert (this makes the lighter areas thinner).

When you invert to the negative look the invert again at the import image it's the same as not inverting at all, ain't it?

[Amonaug]

Yeah not sure why everyone is inverting in the image editor like photoshop then re-inverting when in designer. Simply importing the greyscale image into designer should work.

[Shinny]

Hotpop

I buy the logic - I just haven't had the courage to try to do one w\out the double inverting. This topic has been brought up many times - I don't know which way is best. The results I got were very good, & doubling inverting is just a matter of a couple of "clicks".

thanks
shinny

[ruggybear]

When I first began to do litho's I was as confused as anyone about all of this grey scale and to invert or not or do it twice as well. I do not claim to be anywhere close to an expert and wish that someone in th know would come up with a proper/correct way to handle all of this.

For now I just crop the color photo to my liking and import the color version without inverts. Seems to work with no problems. At least to my satisfaction.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Router-Jim]

The color of corian is cameo white .25" thick. Settings are depth .150, height of 40. I use photoshop to convert to grayscale (removes color), Invert (creates the "negative" look). save.

May be a dumb question, but at that stage what are you saving it as...a jpeg or something else?


Jim

[Shinny]

Here is the original, the grayscale inverted thru photoshop, & the mpc files. I just take the inverted pix - import it into CW software - place it on a board - size it to my liking & invert it in CW.

[hotpop]

Hey Shinny,

That's is a great Photo.

[Dave-Carve]

To Clairfy you Question (INVERTED or Not INVERTED)

Ive Done Many Lithos And Ive Found The EASYIEST way to Carve or tell if pic is Inverted is ...
BEFORE you carve while still in Designer ..
ROTATE MPC.to see The Picture on and angle !!
The Darker Images in the Picture (Such as Pupils Of Eyes,Black Clothing,DarkHair ETC.)
Should be the Highest (Less Carved) Portion of you Picture IN DESIGNER..

Example The White Of The Eye Should Be Carved Deeper That The Pupil Of The Eye ...

The Least Carved Areas (DARKER) Should not be Carved As Much, As the LIGHT Areas Of The Photo ???

When Back Lit with light. The Deeper The Carve, The Lighter the Picture.

The Lighter The Carve .The Darker the Picture.

Hope I Didnt Confuse you as Much as I Confused Myself :rolleyes:????????

[ruggybear]

Hi Dave,

I understand all of that and as I said I just crop the color photo to my liking and import as is. I see no need to convert to greyscale and certainly there is no need to do any inverts if you are carving corian as a Litho (ie back lit).

My first Litho was a disaster because I didn't know any better and followed some instructions that contained one invert. Learned very fast after that one.

This subject comes up whenever carvers first get into Lithos and there is always a debate about how to do it.