27 Oct 2026 · UV Printing · BuildUV Printing on Wood: Garden Signs With a Raised Texture (eufyMake E1)

I have a bit of an edible garden and I’m always forgetting how to care for each plant: how much water, what to feed it, when to prune. So I designed plant ID signs and UV printed them on pine with the eufyMake E1. The text is flat and crisp, but the plant illustration has a raised texture you can feel. Here’s the whole build, including the test prints that went wrong and the two tricks that made it work. eufyMake sponsored this video.

What you need

• A UV printer. I used the eufyMake E1 (code DRAFTID gave a discount at the time).
• Pine boards. I bought 285 x 19 mm pine in a 1.2 m length for about $32, plus some 3 mm pine to compare.
• Sandpaper, a router with a round-over bit (optional, for the curved edge) and some cleaning alcohol.
• Wood stain if you want the darker look.
• Painter’s tape and a sharp blade to trim it.
• Design software for the layout (I use Affinity) and an illustration on a plain white background.
• Timber stakes, wood glue, a few nails and a clear gloss spray for outdoors.

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Step 1: Test on scrap first

Before cutting any good timber I cut a piece of scrap 3 mm MDF to shape on the laser and ran a small test print on the E1. The ink soaked into the board a fair bit, which was my first hint that wood needs more white underneath. Otherwise it looked good, so I went shopping.

Step 2: Pick and prep the timber

I first tried 3 mm pine, but it’s very flexible, so I didn’t think it would hold up as a sign. For the real ones I went with 19 mm thick pine that was already 285 mm wide, so I only had to cut it to height on the drop saw. Thicker timber won’t deteriorate in the weather as badly, and it takes stain nicely.

1. Cut the boards to size.
2. Sand the edges to remove any burrs. Anything sticking up can catch the print head.
3. Route the top edges for a curved border (this is just for a more premium look).
4. Give it another light sand, then wipe it down with cleaning alcohol to get rid of dust and oils.
5. If you’re staining, do a couple of coats and let each one dry before the next.

I made one natural and one stained version of each, so I could compare them.

Step 3: Test prints, bidirectional vs unidirectional

My first print on the 3 mm pine didn’t come out great: a bit of colour bleed and some of the fine text was blurry. I had the printer in bidirectional mode, the newer, faster mode, so I ran it again in unidirectional mode and it came out nice and clear.

Print mode	Result on my fine text
Bidirectional	Faster, but colour bleed and blurry small text
Unidirectional	Sharp, clean text. Use this for small type.

The same print also showed something under the white in one corner. Any imperfection in the surface shows through, so sand it as smooth as you can. On the 19 mm board with the raised illustration, the fine text came out really crisp and you can feel the texture under your fingers, but I could still see the ink soaking into the wood. That’s why I bumped the white layers up for the final prints.

Step 4: Tape the edges so you can print right to the border

On the stained board I wanted the print to run right to the edge of the routed border. To do that, I put painter’s tape over the rounded edge to catch any overspray, taped it down tight so nothing was lifting, and put it on the E1 bed. After printing, I sliced along the edge with an ultrasonic cutting blade and peeled the tape away for a clean finish right to the edge.

Step 5: Make the plant illustration

For the artwork I explain the image style I want to Claude, making sure it knows the image needs a plain white background, and it gives me a prompt. I take that prompt to Higgsfield to generate the image. Because the illustration sits in a narrow column on the side of the sign, I generate it at a 9:16 (vertical) aspect ratio.

Step 6: Set up the template and export two aligned layers

I lay out the text in Affinity as a template, so for each new plant I just change the text, the headings and drop the new image in. The key to selective raised texture is that you print two separate images that line up exactly:

1. Put the text and the white background in one group, and the illustration in another, so you can toggle them on and off.
2. Turn off the illustration and export the page as a PNG. That’s your text layer.
3. Turn off the text group and turn the illustration on. Because the white background lives in the text group, the illustration is now on a transparent background. Export that as a second PNG at the same size.

The transparent background matters. When you apply raised relief in eufyMake Studio, it only builds up the artwork. If there were a background in that file, it would get raised too.

Step 7: Sequential print and raised relief in eufyMake Studio

1. Import the text layer first, then the illustration. The order matters for sequential print.
2. Select both and align them horizontally and vertically. Because both files are the same size, they snap together.
3. Turn on sequential print. Without it, the software merges everything and prints it as one image. With it, the E1 prints each layer in full before moving on: first the flat white and all the text, then it comes back and prints the illustration.
4. Set the material to wood.
5. On the text layer, increase the white. I went up to 7 layers of white so it fills in where the wood soaks up ink.
6. Select the illustration layer and apply Relief Texture. Give it a moment to generate.
7. Check the preview. All the text is flat and just the illustration is raised. On screen it looks much higher than the real print, so don’t panic.

I run the P1 purifier alongside the printer. In auto mode it starts on its own when a print is sent, and for raised relief I set it to high. Since getting it I don’t notice the smell anymore. Make sure the print area is clear, then start the print.

Step 8: Finish the signs

Once the tape was trimmed and peeled, I fitted two timber stakes to the back of each sign with wood glue and a couple of nails. Then I gave the front and back a couple of coats of gloss spray, letting it dry between coats, so it’s ready for the weather. Then into the garden next to the mulberry.

Stained or natural?

My pick is the stained one. The tape trick lets the print run right to the edge, instead of being inset like on the natural board. But the natural pine looks good too, so let me know in the YouTube comments which one you prefer.

What I learned

• Wood soaks up ink, so get the surface as smooth as possible and bump your white layers up a couple.
• For fine text, unidirectional printing gave me the sharpest result.
• For raised texture on just the illustration, keep your text and artwork on separate layers and use sequential print.
• Taping down the edges let me print right to the border and still get a clean finish.

Got an idea of your own? The Maker Drop

eufyMake is running the Maker Drop, where independent makers co-create a limited edition product with them. At the time of writing there’s a $200,000 prize pool, every selected creator gets $1,000, the grand prize is $50,000, and selected creators get a free E1 with ink, so you don’t need a printer to enter. Submissions close on 15 November 2026: enter the Maker Drop.