Help, please: Engraving practice for Beginners

kayscheible

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Apr 24, 2017
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Hello Everyone,
Im new to engraving, actually just received my engraver in the mail today. Does any one have any suggestions on what to practice doing first? Any beginner engraving templates, or practice sheets?

Thanks in Advance!
 

SalihKara

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In the first week, I cut only straight lines and some circles in different size, small circles and big circles,

I think cutting the circles for the beginner is good point to start, you can learn how to turn your vice.

Start with big circles as your practise plate allow and make it smaller and smaller.

Also, try to cut circles to both side, clockwise and counterclockwise.

When you finished with them you can try to cut different size of scrool backbones.

this is how I started.
 

Big-Un

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I spent MONTHS cutting straight lines trying to make them straight and evenly placed and the same depth, no "porpoiseing" allowed. After that I worked on circles. Being somewhat ambidextrous helped as I practiced with both hands, but not everyone can do that.

Bill
 
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I am also very new and am using a gravermax G8 as well. I've gone through about 10 brass plates so far of straight lines and basic curves and onto my first steel plate and now practice knife. If you are getting into scroll then there are three basic lines you should learn, curves, archs, and S's. In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAbjZdbrbOg&t=10s it highlights the basic cuts and design aspect of scroll. But as everyone has said, lines are easily one of the hardest beginner cuts to tackle. Consistent depth and and staying to the design line can be tough, scribe lines and curves and try to cut to the line and keep practicing that.
 

monk

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welcome to the asylum. the kiss principle is best for newbies. it's a mistake to try and emulate some of the very complex design work you'll see here. in the final analysis, you'll see that all design work is just a matter of combining a few simple curved and straight lines to achieve a desired design.your pencil will prove to be your most valuable tool.
 

GTJC460

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SCRIPT LETTERING---drawing it and cutting it---best practice in the world for graver control and layout

It may sound boring but anyone can tell whether you have engraving ability by looking at your lettering. Scroll design and cutting is more difficult as it has a huge art component to it. 7/10 people will think any scratched out scrolls "look good", and maybe only 1/100,000 will actually know enough to discern good from bad. Script lettering on the other hand everyone will recognize whether its any good or not
 

Steve L S

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SCRIPT LETTERING---drawing it and cutting it---best practice in the world for graver control and layout

It may sound boring but anyone can tell whether you have engraving ability by looking at your lettering. Scroll design and cutting is more difficult as it has a huge art component to it. 7/10 people will think any scratched out scrolls "look good", and maybe only 1/100,000 will actually know enough to discern good from bad. Script lettering on the other hand everyone will recognize whether its any good or not

Most people can tell if lettering is out by a mere .25mm from the baseline - ours is a text based culture. When you get bored with script lettering try Frakturs. eg Dan Solo's book on Gothic and old English alphabets
 

Brant

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Search for "practise plates" I posted this a few months ago, they will give you a good start.
 

Southern Custom

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Bert makes a good point about lettering. I'll add this. Your engraving study should consist of two parts. Since everyone is anxious to cut, go ahead and cut circles and lines. Then do circles scribed inside one another so the lines are almost touching. This will show flaws quickly.
The second part is where most of your effort should be placed and that's with a pencil and paper. You can't cut what you can't draw. There are several good books to help with this. Scroll design can seem daunting till you learn some fundamental elements.
Good luck. Go slow. Enjoy the process.
 

monk

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bert is spot on with the lettering comment. i backed off doing hand lettering quite some time ago. my eyes and the rest of my body don't seem to want to cooperate these days. i've actually discontinued doing a lot of the work i used to do. i no longer do anything where i feel there's a chance i may mess it up. skrewing up a job is not an option for me. we all run a slight risk of a boo boo, some more, some less. for me, the probability of such is just too dang great to botch a job.
 

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