Demon Token

My first of 10 laser makred anodized aluminum tokens I'm producing for a Kickstarter campaign.

Each one starts as a black anodized aluminum blank. I burn away one layer of black to expose the bare aluminum which appears white. I then put a wash of alcohol ink over that and let that dry. I then burn the final image into it in two passes of the laser. The whole process took months of r and d and required creating a new art style for myself. The laser doesn't create gradients well, so I experimented with the scratchy style that you see there. The rule I follow for myself is create the best half tones I can make, but only create them with black and white. That way I always end up with something that the laser can handle. The challenge of working with the laser forced me to get out of my own head and get creative, which was very rewarding.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/josephmeehanart/joseph-meehans-hand-made-metal-tokens?ref=user_menu