She Walks in Beauty By Lord Byron - Poem on Slate
Instruction
Early in our relationship, my husband sent me a card on which he copied Lord Byron's famous verse. It swept me off my feet. Twenty something years (four kids, a dog, and several moves) later, we finally built our forever home, complete with a sun-filled library. I decided to use my xTool to create themed projects to place among our books. What better choice to place among our literature collection than the piece that started everything?
I entered the first few lines of the poem in the Wonder app on my phone to generate the bitmap image. Then I removed the background and maximized the sharpness, saturation, and contrast (all set to 50) and inverted the image in XCS. I added the text directly in XCS and processed the design on a 12" x 8" slate board (https://a.co/d/cqatwex). A short time later, I had a piece my husband and I can share for years to come.
Open the project in XCS and process on a slate board. Adjust settings as needed for your laser. (xTool's suggested settings for a Rock Coaster are a good place to start.) You may also need to edit the font size and spacing of the image and text to fit the slate piece you are using.
If using the .jpg image file on a different laser processing software, be sure to remove the background; increase the sharpness, contrast, and saturation of the image; and invert the image prior to processing. I recommend Jarvis mode with 200 lines per cm and bi-directional engraving. (The image in the SVG file is already processed for engraving.)
After you engrave the slate, use a soft cloth to wipe off any debris. You can also apply a clear sealant to brighten and preserve the engraving.