Yay! It was my birthday yesterday. Since I'm broke, I did not really celebrate, but I had a very pleasant evening with a friend, a bottle of Rioja red wind and a very nice backrub. Can't complain. I don't really know if I should feel old. Most of my classmates are at least 5 years younger than me, but somehow that doesn't really make any difference to me. The last few years I've somehow lost the need to celebrate my birthday.. It's almost just like any other day. Of course, it's really nice when friends do remember and send cards and such, but no major party seems necessary. Ididn't even have my own 30 year party, but rather celebrated at a friend's birthday party, which we sort of transformed a party for the both of us, though it was mostly my friend's party.
We've just had a one-week intensive course on engraving. I enjoyed it immensely, but my wrists and arms hurt a lot and my neck is stiffer than a board.
Engraving is not that difficult, after all. It's not easy, either, but mostly it's about having patience to do things slowly enough. If you rush it, you'll probably end up having a long scratch accross a surface that's supposed to be intact. You could ruin the whole project with that, since there is little possibilities to "erase" any mistakes. If you do something wrong, it usuallly sticks out like a sore thumb and stays that way.
As a side note, I find copper to be more unforgiving to engrave upon than steel. Copper is softer, so it's easier to leave a mark on it and you don't need to use a hammer to drive the chisel forward. The minus is, that it's so much more tenacious than steel. The chisel tends to stick rather than slide properly and when you press harder, even the most minuscule slip results usually in long, unwanted scratches since the metal is so soft. Steel is harder to leave a mark on, but it's more forgiving to mistakes. Somehow it's also somehow easier to control a chisel with small taps of a hammer than rely solely on the steadiness of your hand.
Below is a picture of an engraving project I started. It's copper, so it has lots of slips and scratches, but I haven't really engraved anything before this week, so you must disregard any sloppiness as a beginner's difficulties.
The whole thing is about the size of a matchbox, roughly an inch wide and one and a half inches high. The finished thing is going to be a print plate bearing my coat of arms, to be used for printing Ex Libris badges and such.. This picture is mirrored, since the real engraved plate is used for printing, and thus a mirror image itself. So, this is the way the print would look like. As you can see, it's still very much unfinished, the device on the shield and the crest are still missing, as is the background for the upper part.
This is what people do when they have too much time. Crazy people.
We've just had a one-week intensive course on engraving. I enjoyed it immensely, but my wrists and arms hurt a lot and my neck is stiffer than a board.
Engraving is not that difficult, after all. It's not easy, either, but mostly it's about having patience to do things slowly enough. If you rush it, you'll probably end up having a long scratch accross a surface that's supposed to be intact. You could ruin the whole project with that, since there is little possibilities to "erase" any mistakes. If you do something wrong, it usuallly sticks out like a sore thumb and stays that way.
As a side note, I find copper to be more unforgiving to engrave upon than steel. Copper is softer, so it's easier to leave a mark on it and you don't need to use a hammer to drive the chisel forward. The minus is, that it's so much more tenacious than steel. The chisel tends to stick rather than slide properly and when you press harder, even the most minuscule slip results usually in long, unwanted scratches since the metal is so soft. Steel is harder to leave a mark on, but it's more forgiving to mistakes. Somehow it's also somehow easier to control a chisel with small taps of a hammer than rely solely on the steadiness of your hand.
Below is a picture of an engraving project I started. It's copper, so it has lots of slips and scratches, but I haven't really engraved anything before this week, so you must disregard any sloppiness as a beginner's difficulties.
The whole thing is about the size of a matchbox, roughly an inch wide and one and a half inches high. The finished thing is going to be a print plate bearing my coat of arms, to be used for printing Ex Libris badges and such.. This picture is mirrored, since the real engraved plate is used for printing, and thus a mirror image itself. So, this is the way the print would look like. As you can see, it's still very much unfinished, the device on the shield and the crest are still missing, as is the background for the upper part.
This is what people do when they have too much time. Crazy people.
the engraving project looks AWESOME by the way!