Most people percieve that the computer designs the product and the "artisan" simply mashes the button and, voila!, out comes the artistry. In some cases, that is not too far off, if one doesn't take into account the countless hours it takes to somewhat master the process.
In the case of John Wayne, it took hours to adjust this picture to be workable. For instance, the shadow of the hat on Wayne's face. Left alone we couldn't even see his eyes. The same goes for much of the rest of the picture. I am still not satified with the wording that does not stand out enough; which will be fixed!
Once the picture is finished, now comes the engraving. This is done with a pointed carving bit. Imagine a point engraving shallow lines, say, 1/16 of an inch appart. Blown up, it would look like rows in a farmer's field! Now imagine the very tip overlapping the last pass by 60% of the width of the tip! That results in rows that the eye can't see but requires 1000's of rows and that takes a long time to carve!
This carving of John Wayne is priced as below. In order to customize your own picture, we would have to asses the difficulty and then provide you with a price to create a lithophane that you will treasure.
Conntact us as there are a miriad of options. For instance, a lithophane can be hung on a window with sunlight as the light source!
Lithophanes
Lithophanes have a long history, dating back to the 19th century in Europe, where artists crafted them from porcelain and glass. They were often lit with candles or attached to windows to showcase the relief image created by transmitted daylight. Today, the traditional technique has been modernized with 3D carving and printing, allowing for greater precision and versatility in creating intricate designs.
The way it works can be seen by looking at the picture with two John Wayne lithophanes. See how his badge is recessed into his vest? The badge is thinner, thus allowing more light to pass, while the vest is thicker, hence darker. The process of converting a photograph into a computer model which, in turn, creates the instruction set that actually directs the carving of the plastic can be very painstaking! But the results are worth it.