Laser Etched Drinking Glasses

A while ago I laser etched my face onto a set of drinking glasses in hopes of weirding out my new roommates. They didn't seem to notice. Or, at least, if they did notice, they never said anything. Any which way, it never sparked the conversation I was hoping for (i.e. "Why do you have your face on all your glasses?"). Regardless... these glasses make a fine addition to any home.

The nice thing about etching glass with a 75 Watt IR laser cutter is the precision and detail. I am able to get highly accurate images onto a round surface without much fuss. I highly recommend pulling your awesome Epilog laser cutter out of the closet and doing the same.

Step 1 Go get stuff

You will need:

An awesome Epilog Laser Cutter
A rotary attachment
Dish soap
Glass cups
A container with water
Blue painters tape
A pencil
A digital image of your face
Photoshop

Comments

[captain Jack]

yes.... a LASER CUTTER is need for this.
almost useful...

[randofo]

What were you expecting from a project titled "Laser Etched Drinking Glasses"?

[PikminRed]

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I want a laser cutter!!!! D: Cool.

[craig3]

Oh now thats cool. If i had the etcher, i would probably try and keep going further until they said something, starting with a hand or sometihng simple, my face, moving up to eventually an etched scrotum on on their mug haha

[Ugifer]

Surely if you want to weird out your housemates, you should be etching "DANGER - Biohazard" or "WARNING - stack no more than 3 cups to avoid assembling a critical mass".

Best on weird-colour glass.

[pennsteve]

If you open that picture up in paint and click invert colors, it looks like a regular face, so yeah, its a negative etching.  ;)

[crapflinger]

i used to have a D!@khead room mate that had a label printer...he would label anything he bought as his...and somethings that he didn't buy...but decided were his by default.....if you touched any of that stuff he'd get all pissy....little did he know that when he was at work...we would go in his room and pee in his air conditioner

[thepelton]

LOL
"Why does my room smell funny?"

[crapflinger]

it was EXTREMELY comical when winter rolled around and he turned the heater on for the first time

[Ninzerbean]

Since when the laser cutter cuts images out they tend to look like a negative why don't you reverse the color in the image so for example it makes your hair dark and your face white, your eyes would then look dark etc. Could you try this for me so I could see the effect?

[thepelton]

I have done that myself.  There are commands in Corel 12 and later versions for reversing the picture.  It gives you a more recognizeable picture.

[Ninzerbean]

 I would think so.

[Joe Martin]

I'm imagine that nearly everything at Instructables HQ has your face embezzled on to it. Hehe, Great work!

[randofo]

Not yet, but it's getting there ;-)

[Offord]

wow....i would think teaching someone how to make/build there own laser cutter is what people would expect to be on this site.....not so much how to use one.....I must say after reading though it looks like a handy things to have ...but as earlier said, who has an extra one laying around in there closet....

[randofo]

We already have one of those.

We have plenty of other projects on how to use various tools. It's not my fault this one that I happen to have in my closet is very expensive.

[The Man From Nantucket]

I'm confused. Is this supposed to be a joke instructable? I'm new to the site but this can basically be summed up like so: 1.) Buy $8,000 - $60,000 piece of equipment. 2.) Use it according to instructions. I'm curious what makes something 'featured?'

[randofo]

I didn't say to buy one. I said to use the one you already own.

[thepelton]

I have one, but not the rotary accessory. I understand its about another thousand Dollars, right?

[randofo]

I'm not sure. My rotary setup is on loan.

[thepelton]

One other comment. I don't have photoshop, but I do have Corel Draw 12.

[randofo]

I'm not sure how to do that in Corel. I normally make raster graphics in Photoshop and import into Corel as an EPS.

[thepelton]

I don't have photoshop, but I do have Corel Draw 12, and hope to upgrade when I can afford it to the latest version (X4 or something like that). I got used to Corel 12, since I started working in it from the beginning. You can import pictures into it, and edit them to a limited degree.

[randofo]

You could probably increase the contrast a fair amount and then would probably have to eyeball it by tracing the actual image with vector lines.

[thepelton]

What does the soaping the glass do in step 5? I have engraved glass without it. Should I have been soaping the glass?

[trebuchet03]

In my past glass laser engraving adventures... I've gotten surface cracks (not always, but it's happened). The Epilog people say to use dish soap and a tiny bit of water for near 100% success. The way I see it... If you can afford to throw away the product you're etching, it might not be worth the effort. Then again, it's not that much effort to add soap and water :p

[thepelton]

OK. I'll have to try that the next time I do glass. I wonder, would it improve engraving on stone?

[l8nite]

yea we all have an unused laser machine in our closets!!! really cool project but I dont think I could use that machine without a lot more instruction (lol) for those of us less machinary endowed a dremel with a carbide or diamond nail filing bit and flexishaft works great for engraving, just tape the image you want behind the glass and trace

[trebuchet03]

Cool - the soap and damp covering steps are critically important unless your end goal is shattered glass :p Wine Bottles ;) Just Say'n

[Lindie]

I'm thinking those would have to get packed very carefully to make it all the way to New York! hehehe

[canida]

Nice. I need to engrave more stuff!

[Weissensteinburg]

If only I had a laser cutter... What would you have responded with if they had sparked said conversation?

[randofo]

You know... I hadn't thought that far ahead.