Michael Orticelli
Member
Hello all,
Its been a while since I was on here last. I miss seeing all your fine work and am going to be visiting more often again. Had some computer/internet probs and have also been busy as a 1 armed paper hanger carving wax.
Anyway, I have been practicing here and there on brass with some copied art and some designs of my own. Although my hand is getting steadier and the practice is paying off slowly, there is one thing that keeps bugging me.
On artwork where i want the back to be recessed and possibly blackened for an antique look, I have been having trouble finding the best technique to acheive this. I like more sculptural engraving so I tend to prefer a significant step down with the background, and I have about 5 flat gravers of varying widths.
The problem is this- when I engrave the lines on a given design, it takes more than twice as long as the line work to remove the background. This is due in part to the fact that there is some significant area to remove due to design balance, but also it just seems like a pain in the rear to remove it all with gravers. And when I use my foredom handpiece to grind it out with burs, the slightest vibration in the handpiece lessens the accuracy tremendously.
I have been on the fence about getting the air powered handpiece for my gravermach, because it is expensive, however i think it would probably make grinding the background a breeze.
Does anyone have any suggestions, aside from the pneumatic rotary handpiece, that might help me expedite this procedure?
(I usually like to finish the background with a stipple finish from a point bit, however i would like to learn to make it smooth enough to polish with stones.)
Thanks in advance!
Michael
Its been a while since I was on here last. I miss seeing all your fine work and am going to be visiting more often again. Had some computer/internet probs and have also been busy as a 1 armed paper hanger carving wax.
Anyway, I have been practicing here and there on brass with some copied art and some designs of my own. Although my hand is getting steadier and the practice is paying off slowly, there is one thing that keeps bugging me.
On artwork where i want the back to be recessed and possibly blackened for an antique look, I have been having trouble finding the best technique to acheive this. I like more sculptural engraving so I tend to prefer a significant step down with the background, and I have about 5 flat gravers of varying widths.
The problem is this- when I engrave the lines on a given design, it takes more than twice as long as the line work to remove the background. This is due in part to the fact that there is some significant area to remove due to design balance, but also it just seems like a pain in the rear to remove it all with gravers. And when I use my foredom handpiece to grind it out with burs, the slightest vibration in the handpiece lessens the accuracy tremendously.
I have been on the fence about getting the air powered handpiece for my gravermach, because it is expensive, however i think it would probably make grinding the background a breeze.
Does anyone have any suggestions, aside from the pneumatic rotary handpiece, that might help me expedite this procedure?
(I usually like to finish the background with a stipple finish from a point bit, however i would like to learn to make it smooth enough to polish with stones.)
Thanks in advance!
Michael