Working with painted tiles may seem very easy but there are a few tricks everyone should learn in order to be successful. If you are not familiar with etching these tiles you select your tile and then paint the colors you want that will go with your design. In the dragon pictured here I used red down the center, blue on each top corner and orange on the bottom corners. After that paint is completely dry, you paint the entire tile black. I prefer gloss paint as it really seems to make the colors pop.

Select a tile that will show off your paint in all of its glory. I prefer a white tile as my paint that I am using will generally be brighter and show through the etching much better in the long run.

The next major tip in painting is to use the same brand paint! It may seem easy to grab random cans of spray paint but different brands may not mix well and may cause blistering and bubbling that will ruin your design. I also avoid using clear coat as it may also create bubbling in the paint that you use. It can ruin an entire run of tiles.

The dragon above was etched on an Xtool F2 set at 80 for the time length/pixel. The power is at 40% and the DPI is set at 500. The material setting is black rock square. These settings work very well and the graphics come out very clear and detailed. Of course you will have to determine the settings that you use on your laser as they will vary. I recommend starting with the same settings you use to engrave a black slate coaster.

There you have it! A few tips that will get you started toward some really great art work that will sell quite easily!