finally anodized the girl

Hi Dane

It's a beautiful gift under difficult circumstances. I'm sure it will be treasured.

To the public it will look great. And it is. Anybody would be proud to own a knife like that. The balance between the engraving and blank area is very pleasing to the eye.

When you start drawing on either the metal or paper, it always pays to look at the design and break it down into smaller components. It is always a temptation to bang in real big leaves to fill in gaps whereas sometimes another scroll is a better option.

This is where pencil an paper come in handy. It doesn't have to be a detailed drawing. It can be a guideline as to how it will all look. Like a builders plan.

The most difficult part of this is always the design so I will give you some things to think about. They are picky but picky is what separates the good from the excellent.

Please keep in mind with all these things........that this is my opinion and way of doing things only. Always check it out for yourself and keep observing the best engraving that there is to find your own discoveries.

Cheers
Andrew

PS. Pencil and paper are your best friend. Draw different elements such as leaf shapes etc and learn how to break them down a bit. This can be achieved by shading, curling leaf heads or adding a few V cuts into them.

You will reach a stage, very soon by the looks of it, where you will be able to see all this for yourself. The rule of thumb is, if it doesn't look right, then it probably isn't. Finding the part/s that don't look right is the tricky part but does come with time and experience.

Since I am a purchaser of Dani's engraving I will give my opinion from a buyers point of view.
Dani, I think you have been given some good advice.
Your engraving is a style of your own so choose wisely with the advice that is given so that it does not alter what time and experience will provide you. Since you can design and cut so quickly your engraving style will evolve quickly.
Dani, I don't know anyone that has improved as quick as you.
Remember that it's your style that sells.

The problem with expert advice like Andrew's is that it can put people off actually doing anything for fear of it being wrong.
So, while It's obviously a good idea to follow the advice, don't suddenly stop working.

Your work is more than great for the general public already & Andrew is just trying to help step up your game abit for the fussier more scroll educated crowd..which you can work on bit by bit.

Don't worry, Andrews help isn't going to slow me down. I really appreciate it. Whatever I draw I am challenged to not have big flat spots all over. But better go get some more work done, I will try to keep the tips in mind. Thankyou Andrew

Did some touch up's on Clinton's knife. I agree it looks better, those leaves would be better again if I had designed them to be folded over, but you can sort of get away with it if you have to, as long as the customer/recipient's eye isn't too discerning

The top one in the picture I cut in a couple of hours. There are some bits that stick out to me as wrong. Never put two teardrops right next to each other... that's my rule now... looks wierd.

Andrew,

Thank you for your lesson, as usual, very informative and useful.