Laser Cutting -- into Metal Silk Screen

The key is the STAINLESS STEEL METAL MESH! The CO2 laser cutter will not cut metal.

The test print on fabric

We laser cut an image into a metal silk screen coated with emulsion, at Quelab on December 3, 2025:

The laser cut image was very clean

into metal silk screen

Adric brought in a roll of stainless steel screen (200 mesh hole 74um, 50x50cm), and we stretched and adhered the screen to a wooden stretcher bar frame with a staple gun.  Then we coated it with ecotex TEX BLUE screen printing emulsion using a plastic bondo spreader:

Metal Silk Screen on wooden stretcher bars,

coated with ecotex TEX BLUE screen printing emulsion

• It looks like you can also buy the metal screen from Amazon

We uploaded the image to LightBurn for the laser cutter.  Then when the emulsion dried, we used a CO2 laser to cut away the emulsion in the screen.  We used 80 speed and 30 power, and it took 40 minutes to cut.  However I think we could have used a higher speed and power, to cut faster:

Laser cutting the emulsion off the metal silk screen --

80 speed, 30 power

Note that we laser cut away the photo emulsion.  We did not "harden" the photo emulsion with the laser cutter. Therefore we probably could have just coated with screen filler.  Someone actually just used GUCAMOLE to coat and laser cut his screen.

The final cut

Very detailed cut screen

I choose an AI generated image of a Rhino with Wings as a test image:

More "Street Taco-sized" Prints

Black and White AI image

generated in Midjourney

Street Taco Sized -- AI Linocuts

Maybe the roadrunner would have been

a more appropriate image to laser cut and silk screen

Naturally I took the laser cut silk screen over to the UNM Printmaking Department, to show it off during their student print sale on December 4, 2025:

Student Print Sale at UNM

The next issue is going to be how to RECLAIM and reuse the screen. Perhaps we can just coat it with emulsion again, covering the holes in the open space.  Or we should be able to just use the recommended emulsion remover -- Ecotex® Screen Printing Emulsion Remover.  We used to use Clorox to take the emulsion off the screens.

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PREVIOUS

We did a semi-successfully test run on November 26, 2025. There were a lot of pinholes in the emulsion when it dried (but perhaps that was because we used a heat gun to accelerate the drying process). The lowest power (10%) did not burn off the emulsion, but 30% power did a fine job:

Experiment -- Laser Cutting into Silk Screen

An encouraging previous test run

Earlier in October,  all this was just a fantasy when I first blogged about the possibility:

Laser Cutting an image into Silk Screen for printing

FAKE AI animation

illustrated our fantasy of laser cutting into silk screen

FUTURE FORGE

We got the idea from Future Forge Makerspace when we were in Silver City doing a print workshop at the Southwest Print Fiesta last October.  They were interested in the X-Tool system.  They sell a kit with precoated screens for the laser cutter.

NEWSPRINT

I had been interested for years in combining silk screen with a laser cutter.  Back in 2014 we laser cut images into newsprint -- laid the newsprint on a t-shirt, then a silk screen over that and pulled ink over it. The newsprint served as a mask, keeping the ink off the empty parts of the design on the shirt:

Show at the Mothership with Print Exchange

Laser cut newsprint

used for silk screening a t-shirt

• Michael Roman taught me this technique at the Mission Cultural Center in San Francisco in the 90s.

DIODE LASERS

Apparently we can also use a diode laser to cut away the emulsion from a metal silk screen. So perhaps I can go on location and laser cut images with my Laserpecker 2 into metal silk screens:

Laserpecker 2 Prints

Laser cutting linoleum

with the Laserpecker 2 laser cutter

• It looks like one could just cover the metal silk screen with tape, and laser cut that off

OTHER LINKS

• Wire Mesh for Screen Printing (Benefits, Alternatives, and Cost)
• ECO FRAME WITH 4 LOCKING STRIPS - 20X24IN
• Cheap (no Photo Emulsion) Screenprinting
• XTool Screen Printer
• 270 Mesh T304 Stainless .0014" Wire Dia
• PVC frames for silk screens

December 3, 2025

I drew at FUSION in Albuquerque:

KREA

KREA

KREA

BURST

EzGIF

KREA

KREA

KREA

KREA

KREA

Nano Banana Pro

Midjourney

EzGIF

KREA

Generated from a combo 

of the drawings in this post

KREA

Midjourney

EzGIF

HTML 3D Animated Lines Image Animator

Google's GEMINNI 3 wrote a program (for free) to add moving lines to my drawings, in perspective, as if moving in 3D space, and I posted that program to use on my blog -- BURST:

December 2, 2025

HTML 3D Animated Lines Image Animator

EzGIF

The generated animated GIF was 42.77 MB,

I reduced the size in EzGIF

Gemini 3 did a good job with ONE SHOT -- giving me the HTML 3D Animated Lines Image Animator:

HTML 3D Animated Lines Image Animator

I can use the  resulting program

 inside Gemini 3

AI CODING PROCESS

I was looking for a program that generates animations like that below, so I uploaded that example animation into Gemini 3, and added a prompt:

MY IMAGE

Animated St Sebastian

I uploaded this animation to Gemini 3

My Prompt

"Can you write a program that adds animated moving color lines to an image that one uploads.  The lines have to move in a 3D space, getting thinner as they recede. The program has to be in html so that it can be posted on a webpage.  Also the moving lines over the image has to be able to be downloaded as an animated GIF."

 

INPUT

Animated St Sebastian

HTML 3D Animated Lines Image Animator

My prompt

and the animated GIF I uploaded

***

OUTPUT

RESPONSE

I have created a complete, single-file HTML application that fulfills your request.

Here is how it works:

1)  3D Logic: It uses a "Starfield" algorithm where lines (particles) are spawned in a 3D coordinate system (X, Y, Z). As Z decreases (moves towards the viewer), the 2D projection is calculated to create perspective.

2)  Visuals: The lines get thicker as they get closer and thinner as they recede, creating a true depth effect.

3)  Image Upload: You can upload any image, and it will resize the canvas to fit while maintaining aspect ratio.

4)  GIF Recording: I have integrated a GIF encoder. When you click "Record GIF," it captures the canvas frames for a few seconds, renders the GIF in the background, and automatically triggers a download.

How to use it:

1)  Download the file below (e.g., 3d_lines_animator.html).

2)  Open it in your browser.

3)  Upload your image (like the one you provided).

4)  Adjust the "Speed," "Count," and "Color" to your liking.

5)  Click "Record GIF" to create your animation.

3D Lines Image Animator Dec 3, 2:27 PM

REVISION

I hit the "Add Gemini features" button to see what it would do -- and got the "AI Magic Tune" feature added.  However I have to get an API key to use it, so I don't know what it does:

"Add Gemini features" button

I've updated the application to include Gemini API integration.

New Features:

• ✨ AI Magic Tune: There is now a "Magic Tune" button. When you upload an image and click this, it sends the image to Gemini. Gemini analyzes the visual "mood" (colors, chaos, calmness) and automatically adjusts the Line Color, Speed, and Density to match the image.

• Vibe Check: The AI also generates a short, creative 3-word "Vibe Title" (e.g., "Cyberpunk Neon Chaos" or "Serene Blue Drift") displayed below the button.

How to use the new features:

1)  Enter API Key: A new field for your Google Gemini API Key has been added at the top of the controls. (If you are running this in a specific preview environment that injects keys, it might work automatically, otherwise paste your key there).

2)  Upload Image: Select your background image.

3)  Click "✨ Magic Tune": Watch the sliders and colors update automatically to match your image!

*****

I pasted that code into Blogger, and made a new webpage with it -- BURST -- and that worked also.  However it was hard to see the animation over the tiny uploaded image in my blog:

BURST

I made a webpage on my blog

by just posting the code

I was able to download an animated GIF. However the 4 second animated GIF was 60 MB, so I reduced the byte size in EzGIF:

December 2, 2025

HTML 3D Animated Lines Image Animator

EzGIF

Generated from my blog page

After all that I hit my free limit for the day:

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CONCLUSION

Apparently I need to generate my own art programs, as the new Gemini 3 is powerful enough to do so.  I realized this when I altered a program inside Gemini 3 to download VOXEL generations.

I have been trying to activate the space around, through, and inside my drawings for a while:

March 31, 2025

Animated St Sebastian

Perhaps this animation

is closest to what I desire

Spinning Drawings

Spinning parts activates a still drawing

I have been trying to do this for some time, as indicated in the previous blog posts:

• Spinning Drawings
• Animated St Sebastian
• GPT3 Art:
• Draw random lines
• Draw random circles
• Add Lines
• July 2, 2024
• St Bert
• January 22, 2025:
• Lines
• Animation
• Animate
• Websim version online
• February 3, 2025
• Drawing Program
• March 7, 2025
• linesqwq4.html
• March 22, 2025
• March 31, 2025
• Odd AI Video Experiments from Midjourney
• July 1, 2025
• July 2, 2025

I would like to revisit the Gemini 3 program, to get it to generate moving lines in a variety of colors and thicknesses, but still thin and fade into space to create a 3D illusion (rather than just snow).  Refining the program is going to cost more "thinking" time, which I ran out of.  So I will have to wait another day.

December 2, 2025

We drew at Sir Henry Morales' studio in Albuquerque:

FAKE concert poster generated by AI:

Nano Banana Pro

prompt: "Turn this figure

 into a 60s psychedelic concert poster"

• JEFFERSON AIRPLANE was the actual band that played the Fillmore on October 26, 1968. 

Nano Banana Pro

Midjourney

Animated version by Midjourney

(check out the version by SORA 2)

KREA

KREA

KREA

Deep Dream Generator

AI version from various drawings in this blog post