A day in the life??

[griff silver]

I was wondering if any of you would share with me a typical day in the life of a full time engraver. I work for myself full time but only engrave around 14hrs a week. Thanks Griff

 

[fegarex]

Oh, that was good Brian!
Now I know why he always wears that white jacket. It keeps the tux clean....

 

[SamW]

My day is a lot like Sam's except the birds are magpies, the butler quit in disgust, the roses wilted from my tender loving care, and the summer estate sold for taxes. The only part of the tux that still fits is the cumberbun and then if I only wrap it around once. The crowd of one left when I started working and no one takes my calls anymore (?). As for bunnies, I guess I am just too old. I am also reduced to flying models anymore. I do however engrave when I feel like it and play the rest of the time (could anyone think engraving is playing??? Nah!) The other Sam.

 

[Ken Hurst]

I have been working seven days a week and about min. of ten hours a day --- sometimes twelve to fourteen hours. Of course, I'm 69 and can't move around very much & this keeps me off the street . Getting the work out also allows me to have happy clients that often send repeat business as well as referals. It's a long grind but you get use to it --- you can get use to hanging if you hang long enough. Ken

 

[monk]

my day is pretty much the same, hugh brings a few of the bunnies by for my amusement, a bottle of fine, aged cognac, and then there's thunderous applause-- no-oh my god it's my old lady shaking me telling me to sit up staight and to git back to my engraving, or else !! she gets really nasty when i fall asleep at the ballvise ! i mean flat out cranky !

 

[jlseymour]

How Things Should Be!!!

SamW...

You explain thing's just about how things should be...
Very Good!!!
I'd like to live like Sam w/ a lot more $$$$$$$$$$$.
And play the Banjo...
Thanks
JL Seymour

 

[sdcoxx]

It was a good day. I completed an engraving for a member of the North West Detroit Coin Club.
I take a break at noon each day to watch old B&W episodes of Perry Mason. Commonly followed by a nap, however this day, I forced some coffee down and went back to the shop to stimple the background.
Much to my delight, in no time, I was bead blasting the border. Lettering is a aspect of engraving I rarely get to practice on coins, so it was the most challenging and fun part. Fridays at 5PM, I traditionaly have cocktails with family and friends. Of course, I show off my latest efforts...

 

[Abigail]

A day in the life........

Well, this started at about 4:30 this morning. He's still there...It's 8:15am. He did take a quick coffee break.
Cheers!
Abigail

 

[Ron Smith]

Griff, when I had my engraving shop, I would arrive at nine, sit down to work. I had boxes of work arranged to do for that particular day. I engraved everything, so I might have pendents, bracelets, silver trays, goblets, and a myriad of other things in my work schedule for the day. If I had any ornamental work, I did it in between the bread and butter work which was lettering and monogramming. I would get a lunch break, but would often spend it at the bench unless someone came by the shop and we went to lunch with them. Liz and I ran the shop together, so whatever I made was because of us both working. We made nothing if my hands weren't busy engraving. Interruptions were constant, but Liz took care of the phone and the customers, leaving me time to get the work out. Didn't have many breaks during the day unless visitors came by for a chat. I always tried to spend time with the customers that wanted to see me. I always met my deadlines, and I did what I said I would do. I had a good reputation a lot of good clients. I did work for a lot of jewelry stores by mail and I did most of the local stores at one time or another. I stayed very busy to make the small amount that I did, but I shoujldn't have tried to run a business on the street. Rent of space, business overhead and such was set up around a mass production and volume system and it cost a lot to have a location. This was not practicle and most of my income went for expenses and taxes and permits, insurance, phone bill, etc. You can only produce so much by hand and the general public will only pay so much. This is not a hand manufacture oriented society any more. I would work anywhere from 9:00 to 6:30 (rare) to 7:00 to 8:00 or nine oclock depending on how much work I had. If I had ornamental pieces I did them after work and would work into the night much of the time. I worked my tail off for the thirty or so years it took me to build my shop and reputation. Didn't make a lot of money and as I said in one of my other posts " the economic system left me in the dust 20 years ago. I couldn't keep up with the fast inflation rate from about 1980 on. I finally had to close the shop and move home. Things were a lot different then. Money was harder to make. The highay dept. (eminent domain) ran me out of the best location at about the time I was just begining to get somewhere financially. I had to move to a new location and never regained the income to overcome my expenses, as they went up when I moved. I held onto the business for about six years just managing to get by and keep the shop going, but inflation finally overcame me. Not complaining though, just explaining. So, I hope this gives you a clue, but I could go on for hours. I've taken up too much time on this forum already, so you will have toexcuse my rambling.......This wasn't a very quick reply.....Ron S

 

[Tom Curran]

Ron, you said something really profound: "You can only produce so much by hand and the general public will only pay so much. This is not a hand manufacture oriented society any more."

I have seen this in the work I do, the handwork, that is. My mainstay is machine work, a business in which my clients are fully aware of what things cost. Most people have no clue how things are made, do not make things themselves, and consequently have no idea what value is in a piece of handwork. They are shopping for lowest price.

It's hard to make a living supplying THAT market. However, there are markets where people are very appreciative of hand work, and they have the money, and they want something different and unusual. price is no longer the issue. The hard part is for us to find that market.

I engrave in between work, after making dinner (single dad) for the kids and myself, paying bills, etc. I do not engrave full time, nor do I envision that for myself. I will engrave for a little extra money here and there, to decorate my own projects and to make a few of my own ides come true. Few activities excite me more than engraving. It's akin to drawing, only steel is the paper, chisel is the pen.

Ron, thanks for that particularly honest portrayal of your engraving life.

 

[jlseymour]

Ron
You state it oso true, the independent jeweler with a store has a problem with Kmart's 70 % off all the time and Walmart with their same as Kmart jewelry coming from third world countries...
Diamonds look like they were hit with a hammer, so we call them frozen spit and these same diamonds years ago were industrial grade, but now they are in rings and 1ct tw $99.00 bracelets...
We still have customers who like nice custom jewelry with nice to very nice stones and american casting...
You are so right about working for the landlord, power co, telephone co, and the Goverment...
Enought
JL Seymour

 

[AllanFink1960]

Hm, Ron, I dont think the situation you describe is limited to engraving arts. I once read Norman Rockwell's autobiography (the saturday evening post illustrator) and he suffered the same issues you describe. He did become wildly famous but there was only a short period of his LONNNNNNNNNNNNG career where he made a fair amount of money. It is a very daunting situation for talented people. He talks about a feeling he would get during every illustration job that he had already done his best work and was all washed up. He only was able to keep going by brute force and sheer determination. Not to mention major setbacks like his studio burning to the ground in a fire, and losing a large percentage of his original paintings. Creative work can be a very tough way to live.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Struggling financially and working long hours is not just limited to artist and craftspeople. There are plenty of tradesmen and professional people in the same boat. It one of the aspects of being self employed.

Being good at whatever you do is one thing and generally that's why people start working for themselves. Trouble is, creative types tend to create and ignore business savvy at their peril. Being self employed is incredibley stressfull and hard work. Doing the job is the easy part. Charging appropriatley, paperwork, marketing, advertising, taxes, overheads, cutting your losses and customer education are the business side of things and the hardest thing to learn.

Most self employed are not trained in business skills and are self taught. Unfortunatley the lessons can be very cruel on the soul. You have to really harden up a lot of your ideas, walk away from some work because it's not financially worth it and stick to your guns on pricing. A lot easier said than done, but if you don't, then generally you will be in for a very rough time of it.

What a lot of self employed people take a long time to understand (in some cases never) is that you are in business. The idea of being in business is to make money and profit.

Personally, I think that there are a lot more artist making a living at what they do than there was 30 years ago. Art has never been more accessable and younger artists are getting a lot more business/marketing savvy than ever before.

Just my thoughts for the day

Cheers
Andrew

 

[rodstan]

I work as a full time watchmaker and clock repairer. Engraving is an adjunct to restoration of engraved backplates and cases etc. I think I spend more time removing engraved personal dedications on classic watches than actual engraving.When I was doing hand engraving plus panto and acid etching some 25 years ago, everyone loved it but no one wanted to pay for it.Watchmaking went full on as a business and the engraving tools got put to one side(as did the skills). They have been resurected over the last few years as the demand has increased.Currently my level is average bordering on adequate, what I did 20 plus years ago looks really good.Guns and knives are a non event down here in OZ, the next best is watches. I do some gold inlay tsuba and sword work for a couple of clients.Could not make a living out of it on a stand alone basis if I tried.
HOWEVER----as decorative work on watches and skeletonized movements it goes well.
Natural atrition has left few mechanical watchmakers and none that do decorative restoration---have found my niche!!
Clients wait , I charge according to the job, I am finally in control. I make the rules and work to my pace (very laid back).If the client objects I hand the job back. I enjoy hand engraving for the sake of doing it and always have. Financial considerations are not paramount as the watch work pays the bills, any additional engraving etc is icing on the cake.
Wish I had a fraction of the engraving talent of most of the cafe participants,it would give me great personal satisfaction but I would still not have any additional work down in Australia.
I used to have a side business as a licenced firearms dealer and gunsmith /engraver a long time ago and hand built some 60 odd black powder arms. Used to have a ball, however current gun laws here severely restricted the ownership and storage of guns and knives, so no more business.Even ownership of antiques unless they are flintlock are subject to licencing requirements.
Times are ever changing!!!!!!!!!!
Rod

 

[ddushane]

I have people asking me why I don't go full time making knives. With my back the way it is after nine back surgeries I can't turn out enough knives to take care of all of the overhead and the house too, like Ron was talking about. After the back trouble and not being able to work as a welder, with all of the bending, twisting and lifting, the Social Security Admin tried to get me to take Social Security Disability, but being stubbern I told them I would find something to do. And I was blessed to find a job with the local Government as a 911 dispatcher at our local Sheriff's office. The money is not what I was use to as a welder but momma went to work and between the two of us we now make more than when I was welding, Both of us have great benefits with the county and if we can hang in there till we're in our mid 50's we can have a sweet retirement, working like this with the county paying all of my bills, what I make on my knives and now engraving all goes into my shop. I hope to one day grow in the craft like most of you have and have things to pass onto my kids when I'm gone. They better not count on it though I'm constantly telling them to get off there butts and make their own way. They're starting to get things figured out. I appreciate all that you guys share on these forums, it really helps a person grow! My two cents, Dwayne