I recently saw a technique where a laser was used to ‘erode’ a wooden board to effectively make a 3D sculpture.   Naturally I had to try it so after a bit of experimenting and a lot of support from the Lightburn forum, I was able to make this sculpture.  I used hard maple and it took about 7 to 8 hours to ‘erode’ on my 40W CO2 laser.  It came out nice enough that I framed it in Wenge and gave it to one of our daughters for her new office.  It’s about 9×9 inches overall.  The maximum depth of the 3D element is a little over 1/4″.

Laser ‘eroded’ 3D Image on Maple with Wenge Frame.