@nlichtenberg, Thank you for the compliment! You hit the nail right on the head! I ran the texture path and then stained it. Let it dry and came back with a fresh 220 grit sanding sponge and a couple small folded pieces of 180 grit paper to get in to the tight spots, and went to town on it. After that I mixed up some of the same blue stain with a healthy dose of green and a couple drops of white and applied it to the sanded areas. I kind of “stumbled upon” the idea (I am sure someone has done this already and I have seen it in some form, just forgetting where) while working on another project that required a similar workflow and final look, but for a completely different reason. I thought it would make a nice compliment to a map with a lot of open water, but it turned out even better than expected. While working on that part specifically, it brought back memories of the hours my older brothers and I would spend painting Warhammer(and 40k) minis and terrain features for our tabletop (which I will have to find pictures of, it was soooo cool)
@Julien, as always thank you for your kind words! I’m not sure about that second statement, though! I chose to buy a wholly separate laser setup (Ortur LM2 “20watt”, G8 lens, adjustable z-axis). Partly because of that exact thread you started (and this one:Talk to me about adding a laser to my Shapeko) and partly because I thought my shop would benefit from being able to run both the Shapeoko and laser simultaneously. All the things I posted were engraved between 2400-3000mm/m (roughly 90-120ipm) and 60-90% power, but I am not sure what my accels are set to (I’ll let you know). I will add a little write up on my short laser journey soon with examples of some of the testing I have been doing. I have done lots of small adjustments in Lightburn trying to figure out how to get the best burns (still not there yet).