Critique Request I'm not even sure if this is Bulino!

Mike_Morgan

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As a beginner, I'm finding it hard to find much Bulino instruction in the public domain, shy of buying books and DVD, which I plan on doing. And most of the close-up photos of Bulino that I have seen are not close enough for me to be able to understand what the individual dots and incisions look like under the scope, so I'm coming at this blind.

So what I did here is kind of like pointillism from drawing, though I don't really know how to make the dots with the graver. In the end, what i did was poke at it and hope for the best.

The outlines and line shading in the scales are Pneumatically engraved with a Lindsay Palm control, and the "dots" (If they can be called that) are hand-pushed with e GRS Onglette graver in GRS handle. The onglette graver has no heel.

So, am I close here? The piece is not done yet, I can see where it needs to be darkened up a bit, and such, but I could maybe use some suggestions for technique improvement. This was NOT easy, but I enjoyed doing it to this point.

The Plate is 4" x 6" of half-hard brass, and the drawing of the Koi was nabbed off the internet from a tattoo site.

As always, comments are appreciated! (and links to good bulino instruction would be VERY helpful!)
 

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monk

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hybrid bulino ? i know so little of the technique. i know lindsay sells templates specifically for the bulino artists. my only critique, mike-- would be the shade lines on the scales. they kind of detract from the delicate work on the snout & the fins. somewhere, maybe the net, youtube?.i saw a rather interesting vid on the subject. not lengthy, but showed closeup as to how it's done. i suppose, tho, like much engraving, there's many different approaches to doing this art. hope you get some useful info.
 

dlilazteca

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Looks like a good start! Here is my simple example from my grs class today.


GunEngraver.com Guns, Knives & More
 

Mike_Morgan

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hybrid bulino ? i know so little of the technique. i know lindsay sells templates specifically for the bulino artists. my only critique, mike-- would be the shade lines on the scales. they kind of detract from the delicate work on the snout & the fins.

Yeah, hybrid bulino, for sure... I had this crazy idea that I could shade the scales and it would work out OK, and I knew after the first scale It was not going to give me the desired effect, so my plan... I think... is to go in and add more dots to the fins, nose and eye to try to darken them up and bring it into balance... I hope that will work, but in either case, it's really all about the journey, it's a chunk of brass and not a priceless heirloom.

Tomorrow, I'll try making those sections darker and see where it goes.

Thanks for your comments, Monk, I appreciate it.
 

Marcus Hunt

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Bulino is simply the name of the tool. People have come to think it's all dots but it's not, years ago the Italians used to refer to the dot technique as "punto" or point because that's how it was cut. Some people seem to believe this is what bullion is, but in reality it can be dots or lines. Don't get hung up on a title, it's the results which count and line cuts can look as good and sometimes better than dots. The dot technique looks great IN IDEAL LIGHTING AND PHOTOGRAPHS, but I've seen guns engraved in this manner and move a fraction to one side or the other and you can't see it! Also, a lot of engraving on guns has to be durable. Dot bulino is fine on a gun in a collection that will never be fired or used but in the field it's next to useless as one light scratch would destroy it. Give me a well cut line bulino engraving any day!
 
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JJ Roberts

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I'm with Marcus a well cut line bulino engraving,like a pen & ink drawing in steel. J.J.
 

speeedy6

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The dot technique looks great IN IDEAL LIGHTING AND PHOTOGRAPHS said:
Thanks Marcus for that explanation, I've often wondered why some engravers are so quick to specify they use all lines.
Mike, I'm not one to critique your work but I think it looks pretty good except the definition or shading could stand to be evened out overall.
 

monk

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Yeah, hybrid bulino, for sure... I had this crazy idea that I could shade the scales and it would work out OK, and I knew after the first scale It was not going to give me the desired effect, so my plan... I think... is to go in and add more dots to the fins, nose and eye to try to darken them up and bring it into balance... I hope that will work, but in either case, it's really all about the journey, it's a chunk of brass and not a priceless heirloom.

Tomorrow, I'll try making those sections darker and see where it goes.

Thanks for your comments, Monk, I appreciate it.

mike: could you not also remove a bit of the ink in the shade lines? that might have a bit of benefit.
 

Crossbolt

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At the risk of inadvertantly branching this thread slightly off topic it occurs to me (as a complete novice mind you) that the work of Thomas Bewick merits some examination in regards to fine line engraving. It is not what is referred to as Bulino nowadays. He predates it by more than 150 years or so. It is not even metal engraving (although he did some metal work as part of his apprenticeship and subsequent business). But it is a prime example of fine line engraving. He worked on hardwood (boxwood) but did extremely sophisticated engraving for his day and the blocks he produced are still capable of printing fine prints (I have one); they rival metal engraved blocks. I look at some of his prints (the press printed originals not modern dot printed copies) for good demonstrations of how variations can be generated using predominantly line cuts. I will almost certainly never get to that level but I think it is inspiring nevertheless. In some ways I think the ideal tribute piece would be to cut reduced in line bulino "copies" of a couple of his game birds (from A History of British Birds) on either side of a sidelock. Apologies if this is a diversion but I thought it historically relevant and might be of interest to some.
Jeremy
 

JJ Roberts

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Jeremy,Glad to see you going out of your way studying the art and engraving of others,there's some books of interest Animals 1419 copyright free illustration of mammals,birds,fish,insects,etc.How to draw animals by Jack Hamm the encyclopedia of animals Amber books drawing America's wildlife by Doug Lindstrand drawing animals by Norman Adams & Joe Singer,just good book to start and an other good place to find books yard sales and used book stores.J.J.
 

Mike_Morgan

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At the risk of being flippant, if it's 0.5 cm across then it's bulino; if it's 5 cm across then it's "normal" engraving. Right? :)
Jeremy

Is there that sort of delineation? 0.5 cm is nearly a 1/4". Seems like bulino dots and lines are in general MUCH shorter than that. Of course, on this subject, I'm pretty clueless.
 

Andrew Biggs

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Hi Mike

Bulino is perhaps one of the easiest engraving techniques. After all it's only a series of very short lines/dashes or dots or a combination of the two.........the big thing is following the contours of what it is you are engraving. That may be animal, plant, human, muscles, fur etc etc.

So don't sweat the technique and get all hung up about it.....just have at it and get stuck in. There's no secret to it.

However.........patience is a virtue with this technique. In your sample plate you have done nothing more than a few basics and outlines. You have to go back and cut about a gazzilion more lines or dots or whatever you want. You have to build the scene or picture up in layers and then go back and rework areas. It's a lot of work to do it properly.

It is all about the light and shadow, foreground and background...........Lines close together are darker. Lots of lines overlapping become black. Lines further apart are lighter and when they overlap they become medium grey.......and on it goes.

You're off to a good start...........but make sure you finish it as best you can. That way you will learn a lot :)

Cheers
Andrew
 

SalihKara

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Hi Mike

Bulino is perhaps one of the easiest engraving techniques. After all it's only a series of very short lines/dashes or dots or a combination of the two.........the big thing is following the contours of what it is you are engraving. That may be animal, plant, human, muscles, fur etc etc.

So don't sweat the technique and get all hung up about it.....just have at it and get stuck in. There's no secret to it.

However.........patience is a virtue with this technique. In your sample plate you have done nothing more than a few basics and outlines. You have to go back and cut about a gazzilion more lines or dots or whatever you want. You have to build the scene or picture up in layers and then go back and rework areas. It's a lot of work to do it properly.

It is all about the light and shadow, foreground and background...........Lines close together are darker. Lots of lines overlapping become black. Lines further apart are lighter and when they overlap they become medium grey.......and on it goes.

You're off to a good start...........but make sure you finish it as best you can. That way you will learn a lot :)

Cheers
Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I see that there is no heel for bulino graver,
When I tried to make bulino engraving with a graver which has no heel it was a little bit hard to control it and cut lines but as time passed I got used to use it.

On the other hand, I tired to cut lines, dashes and put dots with a graver which has heel and I got the same result, so I really wonder why you ( all the other engravers ) don't make this type of graver which has heel. What is the exact difference between those two gravers ?

To me, it is easier to use graver which has heel for bulino engraving.
 

Andrew Biggs

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Hi Salih

It's really a matter of personal preference. If it works then do it :)

One thing with using a graver with a heel...........Make sure you are indeed cutting the metal. Sometimes the back of the heel is creasing the metal and not actually cutting.

For this kind of work I personally like the traditional style of bulino graver with a long tapered heel coming up from the bottom so your point is on the top of the graver. This gives you a beautifully sharp and accurate graver to work with. To use it you just have to keep your hand lower than normal.

There's no right or wrong with this type of thing. It's whatever works and getting the subject matter to look good with lots of dimension and depth to it.

The more you do it, the more you learn and the better the next project will be....and on it goes :)

Cheers
Andrew
 

Marcus Hunt

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I actually get a bit frustrated about this term "bulino". I remember it started getting banded about when I had just started my engraving career. I don't quite know how it became blown up into this "mythical" technique but I can make an educated guess. Having met the guy who owns a lot of Fracassi's work back in the 70's and 80's he described Fracassi's technique to me and my dad and he told us that when he met Fracassi he was adamant that the technique he used was "punto" which is basically pointillism.

As most Italians don't speak English you can bet your bottom dollar as to what happened. Once someone starts using a technique and everyone is wowed by it, others start having a go or bring it into their repertoire. Someone visiting an engraver who can't speak English has asked him what the technique is called. I bet you anything you like the engraver has shrugged at the translator, picked up his graver, looked at it and said "Bulino...", meaning he used a push graver as opposed to hammer and chisel.

That's all BULINO means! Graver.....nothing else. Banknote engraving = bulino, dot (punto) = bulino, short lines = bulino. If any of you have Chris Decamillis' casting of his bulino pheasant or duck you can see how fine lines build up the shape of the bird; they're not tiny lines or dots, they're well placed, well cut lines. If you must have a term for this style it's bulino!

So basically, if you use a graver (as opposed to h&c) to cut your scenes then you are using the "bulino" technique. Now stop getting hung up on semantics and just cut!
 

JJ Roberts

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I think of the bolino technique as a pen & ink drawing in steel,punto dot for sky only. J.J.
 

Lee

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Here are a couple plates I did some years ago.

The horn blower shows line engraving that has some banknote flavor. While it is not true banknote the lines on the riders thigh and some of the lines in the horse are approaching banknote style.

The dog-please ignore the scratch across the nose- is certainly not banknote but is completely line engraving using a series of cross hatching to create tonal gradations. When viewed with the naked eye it is near photographic but blown up you can see the layers of crosshatching. Some of the lines will appear as dots but are really just very short lines.

True banknote is in my opinion the most difficult. It requires a lot of planning and knowledge of the contours of the figure being engraved. Not to mention complete control of the graver.
 

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