Critique Request Latest work, lots of gold

Finished the first side of this, commission for ProTech Knives. Probably the most gold I’ve put into one piece, experimenting with using gold as scroll backbones and also using it as accents in foldovers in scrolls.
Please let me know what you think, and if you have any constructive criticism!

That is beautiful work!

I have a question if you would be so kind.

I have only done a small amount of inlay work myself and haven't yet used gold. I have done silver, copper, and a little brass. For the most part just borderlines and a full swatch to engrave a scroll pattern onto, with those I either scribed borders, cut, inlayed, cut excess/pollished and then transfered my scroll pattern to cut as normal.

My question is when you inlay the fold-overs of your leaves what is the order of your process?

I would think transfer, cut the inlay, insert the inlay, cut excess/pollish, re-transfers pattern, cut pattern. the accuracy of the second transfer would be a pain with so many leaves to get lined up just perfect..

You said this is the first time doing this sort of inlay, so maybe there is something you would do differently next time to make it easier?
To my eyes the gold leaves, eyes, teeth, even the small shaded background parts of the fold-overs blend seamlessly.
I'd say it's a Fantastic job!

Thanks for the kind words!
I do things a little “un-traditional” I would say.
For stuff like this with the fold-overs I apply my pattern, then cut outlines like normal, then do my inlays.
The process of sanding flush the inlays does affect the previously engraved lines but it’s not much of a hassle to recut any lines that have been sanded down too much. For simpler areas like the gold backbone scrolls I did here I did it a little differently; I drew on the outlines of the scrolls with a very small micron, then did the inlay, then I “drew” on the scrolls with a scribe, then engraved those.
Hope that helps!
I’m sure other engravers will say differently but this is what works for me!

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Im not sure how "un-traditional" that really is, when I think traditional I imagine everything hand drawn, similar to the way you described the scrolls with gold bsckbone.
although I know that there are ways to do transfers without a printer that have been used for a long time transfers tend to feel almost "new-age"
Anyway, that sounds much easier to get the scroll to line up properly and less hassle than the re-transfer. I was actually thinking of trying it that way before the double transfer because of how annoying it is to try to get a second transfer lined up.. now I know it can be done beautifully that way!
Thank you for the feedback!

Meshach said:

Im not sure how "un-traditional" that really is, when I think traditional I imagine everything hand drawn, similar to the way you described the scrolls with gold bsckbone.
although I know that there are ways to do transfers without a printer that have been used for a long time transfers tend to feel almost "new-age"
Anyway, that sounds much easier to get the scroll to line up properly and less hassle than the re-transfer. I was actually thinking of trying it that way before the double transfer because of how annoying it is to try to get a second transfer lined up.. now I know it can be done beautifully that way!
Thank you for the feedback!

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Yeah I would say you’re correct in that, doing transfers with a printer and using pneumatic gravers isn’t exactly traditional to begin with
When doing any complicated design with inlays I almost always outline the entire piece first and then do the inlays, Im not a fan of trying to line up a transfer post inlay.
I personally know a couple amazing engravers that only do transfers after inlay but I’ts just not for me.
Even for the lion I very lightly cut the basic facial features and even some dark parts of the fur prior to inlay just so I could have something to work off after inlay.
Most of the lion is bulino so not really many hard lines in there