Crossbolt
Elite Cafe Member
Hello All
I’m hoping a few will help me calibrate my eyes on this.
I’ve attached a sketch of a concept for a Remington 870 I’d really appreciate some big picture feedback on.
My Background:
I’m a complete novice and won’t be putting a graver to a gun, I’m fairly certain, for a couple of years. Nevertheless I’m trying to develop ideas and a feel for how designs work. The first gun I’m likely to engrave is a Remington 870 Express Magnum that I own. It is a relatively cheap simple gun so there’s less risk when I start hacking at it . My “blank†English doubles will wait. I find it best to draw up ideas and put them away for a few months before looking at them again. I see how flawed they are more readily then and sometimes where to change things. What I lack though is a good feel for how a drawing is likely to translate into cut metal, both with regards to texture and impact of the scale of elements. That’s what I’m particularly hoping for input on. Of course all comments are welcome.
The Specific Design Thinking:
To me the biggest design issue I want to address on the 870 is the huge ejector port which is around 3 ½ inches long (almost 9 cm to everyone else). I don’t like seeing obvious features like that “ignored†on the examples of engraved 870s I’ve looked at. The other thing that strikes me about the 870, other than its large area is its simple, minimalist form. To me that makes relatively ornate engraving look out of place. There’s no way I’m going to cover an 870 with English scrolls
. So I’ve been toying with how to incorporate the ejector port into “simple†engraving on a large scale.
Maybe it’s too much time on the rugby pitch, or more likely seeing too many All Blacks' hakas, but it came to me that one way of dealing with both of these would be a Maori tattoo face with associated Maori design elements. I’ve always liked Polynesian, Pacific Northwest, and Celtic art forms and the “simple†forms seem to fit the bill. What I’ve come up with is an open mouthed Maori “war face†incorporating the ejector port paired next to what I think is a “manaia†I more or less copied from one of the panels of the Motuni Epa. To blend the two I’ve tried a fern/scroll background “anchored†on an emblematic hook. The border is a double border based on what I understand are typical Maori elements.
I’ve drawn this through its various iterations using a fine pen to mimic as closely as possible the actual cuts.
Particular Concerns
Does the overall design look reasonable?
Does this scale of the elements look like it would work? Over iterations I’ve reduced a number of elements to their current size but I don’t think I can get them any smaller if I want to balance the face which is driven by the ejector port.
At this size will the finer engraving detailing the larger elements work as “shading� My thinking is to reblack the action after engraving but polish the surface to reveal the uncut portions as bare metal (the white bits in the drawing). The serial number and Remington stamping would be left blacked over.
In order to fit the eyes above the open mouth of the ejector port there is no space for the front border on the actual action of the gun. The border here has to drop down to the tube/barrel so there will be more of a three dimensional break than is apparent from the sketch. I think this still works though.
Any other comments are quite welcome. For example there is a lot of room for improvement on the detailed form of the fern/scroll heads.
Thanks
Jeremy
I’m hoping a few will help me calibrate my eyes on this.
I’ve attached a sketch of a concept for a Remington 870 I’d really appreciate some big picture feedback on.
My Background:
I’m a complete novice and won’t be putting a graver to a gun, I’m fairly certain, for a couple of years. Nevertheless I’m trying to develop ideas and a feel for how designs work. The first gun I’m likely to engrave is a Remington 870 Express Magnum that I own. It is a relatively cheap simple gun so there’s less risk when I start hacking at it . My “blank†English doubles will wait. I find it best to draw up ideas and put them away for a few months before looking at them again. I see how flawed they are more readily then and sometimes where to change things. What I lack though is a good feel for how a drawing is likely to translate into cut metal, both with regards to texture and impact of the scale of elements. That’s what I’m particularly hoping for input on. Of course all comments are welcome.
The Specific Design Thinking:
To me the biggest design issue I want to address on the 870 is the huge ejector port which is around 3 ½ inches long (almost 9 cm to everyone else). I don’t like seeing obvious features like that “ignored†on the examples of engraved 870s I’ve looked at. The other thing that strikes me about the 870, other than its large area is its simple, minimalist form. To me that makes relatively ornate engraving look out of place. There’s no way I’m going to cover an 870 with English scrolls
. So I’ve been toying with how to incorporate the ejector port into “simple†engraving on a large scale. Maybe it’s too much time on the rugby pitch, or more likely seeing too many All Blacks' hakas, but it came to me that one way of dealing with both of these would be a Maori tattoo face with associated Maori design elements. I’ve always liked Polynesian, Pacific Northwest, and Celtic art forms and the “simple†forms seem to fit the bill. What I’ve come up with is an open mouthed Maori “war face†incorporating the ejector port paired next to what I think is a “manaia†I more or less copied from one of the panels of the Motuni Epa. To blend the two I’ve tried a fern/scroll background “anchored†on an emblematic hook. The border is a double border based on what I understand are typical Maori elements.
I’ve drawn this through its various iterations using a fine pen to mimic as closely as possible the actual cuts.
Particular Concerns
Does the overall design look reasonable?
Does this scale of the elements look like it would work? Over iterations I’ve reduced a number of elements to their current size but I don’t think I can get them any smaller if I want to balance the face which is driven by the ejector port.
At this size will the finer engraving detailing the larger elements work as “shading� My thinking is to reblack the action after engraving but polish the surface to reveal the uncut portions as bare metal (the white bits in the drawing). The serial number and Remington stamping would be left blacked over.
In order to fit the eyes above the open mouth of the ejector port there is no space for the front border on the actual action of the gun. The border here has to drop down to the tube/barrel so there will be more of a three dimensional break than is apparent from the sketch. I think this still works though.
Any other comments are quite welcome. For example there is a lot of room for improvement on the detailed form of the fern/scroll heads.
Thanks
Jeremy
Attachments
-
maori 870 sketch.jpg
