Beginner introduction

John B.

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Best of luck and much enjoyment and success on your engraving journey. :tiphat:
Thank you for joining FEGA and welcome to the brotherhood of engravers. :clapping:
I look forward to seeing your posts here and on the FEGA forum.
 

Marrinan

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Welcome! Be sure you cut beside the line not on the line. Which side of the line you may ask? Is the line an outline or part of the background so it depends.
 

monk

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welcome to the forum. you seem posessed of insight right away. insight that takes many years for some to develop. i think your attitude will serve you very well.
 

John B.

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Actually it is my solid plan to come to visit the Fega show. The year just has not been decided yet :) Maybe I'll reward my self and my wife (she is really supportive and understanding, Luckily!) as soon as I complete my residency...

Please be sure to post it on the forum when you can visit the FEGA show so that you get a warm welcome.
And best of luck on your dental residency There are several fine dentists and MD's that belong to the Guild.
 

vilts

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Welcome to the forums! This is the place to learn.

If you happen to be in Estonia at some time, feel free to drop by :)
 

Memorymaker

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Your post was perfect from a beginners viewpoint (as I am a beginner too)

I would highly recommend taking a course at GRS or from someone offering classes first and then going to FEGA. Their courses are excellent and you will learn what to do and what not to do and not develop bad habits.
 

Doc Mark

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Welcome,

I am a retired Dentist (42 years in practice), and you will find that your eye-hand skills will benefit your engraving endeavors. Maybe the engraving will help your dentistry skills also! I was lucky enough to spend a short time (far too short) in your country this past Spring and found it lovely and the people very warm and helpful. Best of luck with both your practice and engraving.
 

monk

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welcome to the forum. i own a laser and advise anyone against doing that to a gun. i have done a couple guns with the laser. the results were just as expected-- cheap commercial stuff. the laser has its place, but not on a gun !
 

Marcus Hunt

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Hi and welcome to the forum. My advice is to get hold of Ron Smith’s book “The Advanced Drawing of Scrolls” and study it. Self teaching of engraving is fine but you are disadvantaged in several ways, the main one being how do you know what you are producing is any good? Whilst it internet is great, there are so many people out there who’ll tell you everything you do is fantastic it can be like wading through treacle as it slows progress and gives little real feedback. It can be a minefield and you have to learn to sift the good from the bad information.

On this route you have to learn to be absolutely honest with yourself and compare what you produce with known, good quality engraving. If you see your scrolls have doglegs or grow in the wrong direction admit it and do something about it next time. Likewise, learn to look and see and then try to replicate what you actually see and not what you think you see. There is a world of difference between the two things.

Don’t get ahead of yourself and concentrate on getting the basics under your belt first. Too many times I see beginners trying to create their own style of scrollwork or rushing into complicated foliate work when they have no idea of basic growth or shading. As an apprentice you learn by baby steps and it takes months and years to thoroughly learn the craft, but a lot of people seem to think they can just buy some tools and watch a couple of videos and become an instant engraver. It doesn’t work like that, and going the self-taught route is even tougher if you want to be even a half decent engraver.

Good luck on your journey. It’s a lot of fun, blood, sweat and tears but that’s what makes engravers a pretty special bunch.
 
Last edited:

Domitilla

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Dec 20, 2016
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Hi and welcome to the forum. My advice is to get hold of Ron Smith’s book “The Advanced Drawing of Scrolls” and study it. Self teaching of engraving is fine but you are disadvantaged in several ways, the main one being how do you know what you are producing is any good? Whilst it internet is great, there are so many people out there who’ll tell you everything you do is fantastic it can be like wading through treacle as it slows progress and gives little real feedback. It can be a minefield and you have to learn to sift the good from the bad information.

On this route you have to learn to be absolutely honest with yourself and compare what you produce with known, good quality engraving. If you see your scrolls have doglegs or grow in the wrong direction admit it and do something about it next time. Likewise, learn to look and see and then try to replicate what you actually see and not what you think you see.

Don’t get ahead of yourself and concentrate on getting the basics under your belt first. Too many times I see beginners trying to create their own style of scrollwork or rushing into complicated foliate work when they have no idea of basic growth or shading. As an apprentice you learn by baby steps and it takes months and years to thoroughly learn the craft, but a lot of people seem to think they can just buy some tools and watch a couple of videos and become an instant engraver. It doesn’t work like that, and going the self-taught route is even tougher if you want to be even a half decent engraver.

Good luck on your journey. It’s a lot of fun, blood, sweat and tears but that’s what makes engravers a pretty special bunch.


True good advice for any beginner,
Thanks
 

Crossbolt

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Jun 22, 2016
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I enjoyed your introductory post.
Please post examples as you progress.
As a beginner myself I think it is useful for beginners to see what each other is doing, not to mention the often excellent advice that is provided in response.
Jeremy
 

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