At it again...

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KarenW
Posts: 353
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:42 pm

At it again...

Post by KarenW »

A tongue-in-cheek-not-for-the-front-of-her-desk name plate. :lol:
Cherry and walnut.

Some of the grandkids from last week, finally framed.

One of the brothers and his wife, also framed.
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Karen

KarenW
Posts: 353
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:42 pm

Re: At it again...

Post by KarenW »

*crickets*
Well at least the 3 people who got these liked them. :mrgreen:
Karen

Mick86
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:41 am

Re: At it again...

Post by Mick86 »

well i just came across them they look great would like to know more on your methods in producing the pictures.

KarenW
Posts: 353
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:42 pm

Re: At it again...

Post by KarenW »

Hi Mick - the process is high-res photos washed through Photoshop to simulate a pencil drawing then allowing VCP to set the vectors.
That's the basic process. But the trick is what you do after vectorization - deciding what to leave, what to keep and how to edit.
There really can be too much detail so it's a picking process of taking out extraneous stuff while leaving in enough to make the person in the photo recognizable and to make the cut have an overall interest.
Would be glad to go into detail if you're really interested. Just shoot me a PM.
:D
Attachments
torrie finished.jpg
Karen

jdonaldson
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 11:05 am

Re: At it again...

Post by jdonaldson »

Mick,

Karen is the best at this process and gives very good instructions but it's really tough to make them look as good as her's. I'm still working on the first one it's time consuming but also fun.

john
shark pro, Aspire 4 , VCP 6.5 , cut 3d ,

Eagle55
Posts: 788
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:44 pm

Re: At it again...

Post by Eagle55 »

Karen,

I take spells at being gone from the forum especially the month before Decoration Day at the cemetery, so didn't see these. Can you elaborate a little bit on the time it took to carve, and was it a Vcarve or a raster type photo carve> I know I did a carve of a pencil drawing that I had done and although it turned out quite nice and very detailed it took over 9 hours to carve. Awesome results but not sure I would want to do it on a regular basis and sure hard to get the money out of what I had done.

Roger
CNC Shark HD ~ Control Panel 2.0 ~ Windows 7 & XP
Located in West Tennessee near the Tennessee River
http://www.eaglecarver4.com

KarenW
Posts: 353
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:42 pm

Re: At it again...

Post by KarenW »

John - bless yer heart, that's nice of you to say. ;)

Eagle55/Roger - I loved your piece and studied it pretty intensely but a 9 hour carve would scare me off, too.
Some of these are as quick as 35 minutes and some take 3 hours, just depends on the level of detail. The longest portrait cut I've done yet was 4:10 but it was rendered off an extremely high-res photo (2109 x 1513) and had nearly 400,000 lines of code. That was my own fault because I wasn't willing to cut it down after hounding the guy for "Higher resolution!!" :lol: The one before was over 300,000 lines of code and took 3:29 but the majority fall in the 2:00 - 2:30 time frame.
I do all my work in VCarve Pro 7.0 even though it's slower than 6.5 (imo). At one time I thought I wanted Photo VCarve but I'm not a fan of the raster lines at all - tooting my own horn but I much prefer my method over 45º lines and so far they've been very popular. I have one of a dearly departed pet in the works now...omg... more deceased stuff! LOL!

Tech notes - VCarve Pro 7.0 60º v-bit, depth of carve 0.010, pre-sealed with 2 coats lacquer, hand stained with MW English Chestnut (I think black is too harsh for a portrait) and the staining takes under 5 minutes, 3/8ths round-over edge with a very slight lip but the next one will have a 1/2" round-over, on solid maple, 3 coats of shot lacquer.
Easy peasy.
:mrgreen:
Karen

Eagle55
Posts: 788
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:44 pm

Re: At it again...

Post by Eagle55 »

Yes, there are benifits and drawback of all procedures. I'm not keen on the raster lines either but they do afford a gray scale that is hard to accomplish either way. The Vcarving creates a unique effect that almost abstract, but highly recognizable. Its clean. And bottom line, what is truly "good" is that which will sell good!! Awesome is one thing but the customer is always the judge when it comes to buying.

Roger
CNC Shark HD ~ Control Panel 2.0 ~ Windows 7 & XP
Located in West Tennessee near the Tennessee River
http://www.eaglecarver4.com

KarenW
Posts: 353
Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:42 pm

Re: At it again...

Post by KarenW »

Eagle55 wrote:Awesome is one thing but the customer is always the judge when it comes to buying.
And *that* is the bare bones truth.
;)
Karen

Mick86
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:41 am

Re: At it again...

Post by Mick86 »

Thanking You for the info. I will give it a go.. I may be back for guidance...

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