How do people do labels on DIY caps?

[randomuser2]

I've recently SLA printed a number of caps with custom recessed labels for my Keychron K4 (I love the keyboard feel with its factory pre-lubed switches, but the layout of certain keys, could be improved). Unfortunately I'm having difficulty making the labels stand out. I initially tried just white resin, flowing sharpie ink into the recessed text, then wiping the surface of the caps with alcohol, but the white resin is not that great. However if I use a darker resin the black text will be less visible.

So I attempted few "tricks" I read about online to paint the caps (with acrylic water based spray paint) without painting the recesed text. I tried putting beeswax in the recessed letters (mineral spirits dissolve beeswax, but are not supposed to touch acrylic pain) - this flaked the paint away and barely touched the wax. I tried vaseline. This made the acrylic paint tent over the recessed text. Then using a sharp needle I could remove the vaseline and paint, but the resulting text looked really choppy and some flakes of paint were removed near it too.

Next I printed my caps again, then for each label I printed a small cube with a negative plug of outset text to insert into the inset text to prevent the paint from reaching it. The text on those plugs is slightly smaller (inset text is bold, outset text is regular weight). I hope to insert (and perhaps lightly glue?) those plugs before spray painting hoping they will mask the letters. I'm trying to achieve a look of fairly dark keys with white labels light can shine through.

I wonder how other people do DIY labels?

[vvp]

Why don't you use dark resin and white paint into recessed labels?

You can try laser engraver alone or with paint, whiteboard marker or even toner:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=96010.0

[randomuser2]

Why don't you use dark resin and white paint into recessed labels?

You can try laser engraver alone or with paint, whiteboard marker or even toner:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=96010.0

Yes it is a good idea, but I was hoping to get some light shine-through via the recessed unpainted text. If I print with dark resin and paint white it will likely look nice, but without any light shine-through. Perhaps that's what I'll have to do.

I do have a small cheap cnc mill that I use to mill PCBs and a 10W blue laser for it. If I fail to find a simpler solution I'll try milling the text after painting - this of course will limit the text shape to whatever can be milled with my engraving V-bits. I've yet to try the laser. I suspect it will only be good if one wants dark text on light background.

Why don't I use the mill in the first place you may ask? My first choice was the SLA printer because it is a much easier to start with. No need to design workholding etc. So I was wondering if people with no access to mills/engravers found some trick how to accomplish masking recessed text.

[vvp]

I would not ask that
3D printing is easier than milling.