cermark alternative

Bryan came in to visit me at the studio today. He was asking about the material that Eric used to engrave the flask I have. He wondered if I might have some Cermark that he could use for laser etching a stainless steel Christmas gift. He mentioned that he had heard of a DIY solution so we did a quick search and ended up with Mother's Chrome Polish and plaster of paris. As we read a bit deeper into the forum, the solution was simplified by isopropyl alcohol and plaster of paris. Bryan ran to the art store and I pulled some scrap stainless steel. We mixed up the mixture into a ketchup like consistency and then brushed it on the metal. We figured the lumpy application would give us a good test to see what the optimum thickness should be. I dried the paste like mixture with a heat gun to prepare the metal sheet for laser engraving. I made a quick hatch in Rhino and set the file for cutting on the Epilog. I placed the stainless steel in the Zing, set the setting to 100% power and 5% speed. Much to our surprise, the laser started to engrave the stainless. We pulled the piece out and Bryan rinsed the plaster of paris off. The marks remained and there is a noticeable "bite" to the engraving. You can see where the plaster of paris was a bit lumpy and the engraved image is not as dark. The results would obviously be better via spray application (air brush or detail gun) of the plaster of paris and alcohol. We are testing this now and I will report back. Regardless this sure beats an expensive can of Cermark.