Cigar anyone?

[Barry Lee Hands]

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Yes, give me two :big grin:

Really a nice cigar tool, nice work, I love it

arnaud

[dclevinger]

I've got an Opus X waiting right here Barry. That is a beauty!

David

[Andrew Biggs]

Absolutley beautiful work as always Barry.

The style of leaves that you are using look fabulous and I enjoyed seeing them on your gun in Reno.

Id that a bead blasted background on the metal? It's very attractive with the contrast of bright and satin/matt.

That looks like thin metal that you have inlayed there and tricky work to do.

Cheers
Andrew

[Barry Lee Hands]

Thanks guys.

Id that a bead blasted background on the metal? It's very attractive with the contrast of bright and satin/matt.

That looks like thin metal that you have inlayed there and tricky work to do.

Cheers
Andrew

Excellent and insightful comments as always Andrew.

I have been getting back to work after my 10 week sabbatical in Asia, and I was inspired to do this piece by Marcus's recent post about his Father's retirement.
This cutter has been disassembled in my toolbox for at least 15 years.

The background is blasted with fine aluminum oxide at about 25 psi, I was going to leave the background bright, but it picked up a couple of scratches, so after the work was done I blasted it to knock them back into the background clutter. Then I went over everything with steel wool to brighten the gold and make the grey less
" tender" or prone to scratches.

The leaves, well, this work, though quite different, is influenced by my observations of Ken Hunt on my visits to his London Studio. And, as I said earlier, I was inspired to do this piece by Marcus's recent post about his Father's retirement.
Ken used to do a lot of Damascene, which is another way to say "thin overlay"
Ken told me his sheet was in the .004" or thinner range, and that is what this is.
The leaves are overlayed, rather than inlaid.
Then they are sculpted, which would differ from Ken's usual technique, as he would single point it in the old days, or more recently, stipple the shading in with his gravermax.
The stems are done my way, which is by inlay, as they fall off so easily if overlayed.
Everything is raised, including the inlaid border.

A simple little job, but fun to pull out of the waist pocket when the brandy is poured and the cigars appear.

[eastslope]

Boy, that is the nicest finger chopper-offer thingy that I have ever seen. Thanks for showing, and a big thanks for telling how. Seth

[sam]

Lovely piece. I especially like the gold and grey contrast. Nice one, Barry.

[ddushane]

Very sweet Barry! Outstanding job.

[Dulltool]

It looks more French than German..... If you get my drift.

Beautiful!

[monk]

the concept of "less is more" certainly shows in this glowing piece. this just commands ones' attention.