@Jeff_Johnson I hope you don’t mind, but I took a page from one of your creations to create one for my college alma mater (UNCW). 
Made from 1/4" (6mm) birch ply.
Wow, you are really making some awesome stuff Ned. This looks very cool.
Thanks +Yuusuf Sallahuddin. First time trying something stained and with black paint on the engraved area. I love the contrast.
@Nedman Ah, did you stain after engraving? It looks very high contrast which is what made it stand out so much for me too.
The center piece and frame were cut from the same piece of wood. So I actually stained the whole piece of wood first, put on a coat of lacquer to seal the wood and masked. I Then cut the pieces out and painted the engraved area on the center piece. I found I like using a stencil paste to do color infill on engraved areas. It’s thick so less likely to bleed, has good quick coverage and it dries very fast.
@Nedman Thanks for the info. Will have to have a go at something like this in future. It looks amazing to be honest.
Just looking for stencil paste at one of my local craft stores online & I came across this in the search & thought it might be interesting to test sometime too:
http://riotstores.com.au/item/163202-glitzee-glitter-12gm-pastel-tiffany.html
Hmm yes that does looks like it would cool try. Looking at that also gives me an idea that it might be interesting to try some fluorescent or phosphorescent (glow in the dark) paint coupled with a black light or maybe some UV leds. Hmmm ideas to kick around now. 
Really nice. Is it two layers?
Thanks Jim, yes it is.
Impressive, most impressive!
@Nedman Some UV paint would be cool, so it would be invisible until coupled with the black light. Could have some secret messages in the piece haha.
Wow that looks fantastic! Glad to have inspired you.