Cat Memorial: CNC Laser Pine Pyrography

CNCROi.com recently finished it’s first cat memorial, it only took over 800 blog posts to finally get around to making our first cat video so it’s quite a milestone.

In many ways, this was really the perfect cat memorial, the picture itself was of Tyke, a white cat, against a dark background, so the contrast required was perfect for this given application of laser engraving Tyke onto Pine using CNC pyrography.

Pyrography is a unique way to remember events, for me recently, I used this technique to welcome my son into this world with a custom plaque he can keep on his wall long after I’m gone.

Regardless of how many pyrographic projects I do at CNCROi.com, they are always fun and interesting in their own unique way, each has lessons to be learned and challenges to overcome.

For this specific cat memorial pyrography on 3/4″ Pine, the challenge was optimizing the design to best show a white cat (a detail that won’t be laser engraved) using a light colored wood to have as much contrasting details as possible, again, a dark background helped tremendously but also enhancing nose, mouth and eyes helped make it pop.

Getting the outline Tyle was also important, along with subtle fur details so that it was instantly recognizable as a cat and not just a random collection of shadows making-up this cat memorial pyrographic picture.

One of my most fun personal pyrography projects was a sign I made using just regular pallet wood, you see it in most of my videos in the background where I talk about things infront of my CNC laser.

In order to achieve the various levels of depth and detail I wanted on this cat memorial, I decided to break things up into multiple passes, some light, some dark and then more creating a 3D effect – it sounds more complicated then it really is but the effects look amazing!

A variable I don’t have much control over with this cat memorial was the location of the wood grain relative to the laser engraving and darkening, grain does affect the intensity and density of the contrast created, as such, it’s a variable that can greatly enhance or take away from the look I was trying to achieve on this pyrographic photograph.

General photography works great with pyrography, I tend to prefer Pine because it’s so easy to work with but other woods work great too.

I’ve done a ton of projects at CNCROi.com using Pine, it’s really a fantastic material for a wide variety of applications, the relatively light weight, few knots in the grain and easy sanding due to low material density all help greatly when it comes to making really good pyrography.

You can already see an area of contention with the cat memorial, the right eye, the grain is heavily textured relatively to the rest of the surface area I’m laser engraving at CNCROi.com.

Not only is there a heavy distracting grain texture but it’s also a lot widely dispersed compared to other areas, so that was a part of the pyrography I had to pay special attention to in order to use that distraction in my favor instead of a drawback.

After several passes, doing the final very dark pass on the cat memorial was going to greatly enhance the pyrography or charcoal production, on the surface of this photograph engraved into Pine.

Memorials aren’t “fun” to make in the traditional sense as something had to die in order for them to be ordered from us, but it’s a great way to remember the joy a relative or a pet gave to you years down the road.

Keep in mind, this Pine already has several layers of smoke stains and resin on it, so it always looks “worse” than it really is, it’s just something to keep in mind, the REAL results aren’t visible until some sanding is done on the pyrography.

In these photos, you can really see the massive benefit of the last pass of dark contrast on the photo, without it, everything is too muted.

You can of course, see the distracting grain, but it’s enhanced by the lighting in CNCROi.com‘s CNC laser, I knew that once this was sanded and finished, this would be somewhat nullified.

The goal with pyrography, whether it’s a cat memorial or a family reunion photograph, is to create contrast and great looking permanent details, not go for DEPTH, it’s a very different outlook on production compared the typical work we do at CNCROi.com.

What makes CNCROi.com unique is we an work with a mix of processes, design and materials, to create a unique memorial to suit your needs and wants.

Tyke memorial is really looking amazing! I knew this would look amazing but it’s one thing to imagine and optimize a photo, quite another to actually produce a finished product.

An important but subtle feature of this pyrography was getting the eyes right, you don’t want just dark holes but a little glimmer in them, hence the very small light area in the eyes to give it some depth and personality.

After the laser engraving aspect of this cat memorial pyrography is complete, it’s time to liberate it from the Pine board it came from.

Pine cuts great with our industrial CNC laser, so engraving and cutting produces the best effect all around, a nice darker contrasting frame for Tyke to give the photo a bit more contrast when hung on a wall.

Memorials can be made by us using any species of wood, live edge to dimensional lumber, stainless steel to Corian.

Tyke’s cat memorial pyrography is now complete, I’m sure it would really appreciate the amount of time and detail required to achieve this result but CNCROi.com is not done yet… sanding and finishing is next!

Below you can see a “before” of the cat memorial, right out of our CNC laser, the results are a little washed-out due to the smoke and resin stains on the surface of the Pine.

But after some sanding, the detail comes out of this photograph, it’s subtle but then onto the next step to really ramp-up the contrast on this cat memorial.

What the finishing does is protect the surface of the cat memorial from the environment, greatly increase the contrast of the engraving itself and give a lot of added warmth to the Pine.

Need a memorial, any size, shape, material or design? Contact CNCROi.com right now!