discussion. new perspective

[Jared Eason]

Is it common after studying the engraving arts to no longer oooooo and aaaaaaa at engravings you once thought were fantastic ? I have found this to be true.. like I have said before I'm very new to hand engraving and have very little room to judge. But now by knowing the does and don't of the trade and common mistakes made by amateurs . I see things a lot different now. What made me think of this is, I went to a local gun show this past Sunday and looked at so hand engraved firearms. Where in the past I would have been like, that is awesome. Now I find I'm looking at all the point errors, undercut lines, not back cutting etc. Have y'all experienced this after being better educated in the engraving arts.

 

[glstrcowboy]

Absolutely. I go to the pawn shop to browse somewhat frequently, and cannot believe the worskmanship that left some of the factories. I suppose a lot of that comes from the boredom inherent in repetitive work; i sure would not want to engrave a pallet of shotguns with the exact same pattern. Like anything i guess, after a while its not fun anymore.

I notice the biggest change with my own work. Granted, I haven't been at this very long, but even practice plates from last week that i was happy with when I finished look terrible now.

 

[Red Green]

You must have been looking at engraving from the self proclaimed Master Engravers.

Bob

 

[Jared Eason]

Bob I would like to see some of your work. I like to see different peoples work and there style. Would u mind posting a pic sometime. Or point me to a post where you have in the past?

 

[Red Green]

Like my words my work is of little interest to others, if you look around you'll see my first engraving attempts on Lindsay's website. I require little approval from others unless I'm trying to sell something, I want to engrave for my gratification at the moment and I see no upcoming change. There are enough Master Engravers work available to study any acceptable style, study them it will take you where you need to go.

Bob

 

[golden forge]

Jared, I have had the same experience at several points in my career with jewelry, and now with engraving.
When I started out as a new apprentice I would look at some pice of jewelry and ogle at how wonderful it looked, after working on jewelry for a few years I began to not be so impressed with many of the pieces that I would see. I think that with knowledge comes a greater understanding of what we perceive as the right way to do something.
But, I also have to realize that just because to me a pice looks like someone had an accident with their Be-Dazzler, doesn't mean that it's still not the most beautiful thing in the world to someone else.

 

[Sam]

Jared: Your post reminds me of my short two weeks of instruction with Lynton McKenzie back in 1982. I was a fledgling engraver and my eye for good engraving was far from being fully developed. Lynton and I were browsing antique stores on Royal Street in New Orleans and I commented "that's nice engraving" on an engraved silver piece in a showcase. Lynton promptly replied "No it's not". I felt kind of stupid at that moment, and that was not Lynton's intention. He was simply informing me that it wasn't nice engraving. At the bench he would explain things in detail, but that day in the antique store he left me wondering why it wasn't nice engraving.

As your engraving journey progresses your eye becomes fine tuned and you begin to appreciate truly masterful design and execution.

 

[Jared Eason]

Bob I'm in no way implying I want to judge your work. Ever engraver I have had a chance to view there work , just shows how different there styles are. Like finger prints all are different. I just like seeing art in all forms. And I'm not saying I didn't enjoy looking at the engraving on the guns I saw at the gun show. For the person who engraved them may not have been as fortunate as I to have access to forums, books , and the minds of great engravers to help lead me in the right direction. I really did appreciate the efforts the engraver put into other work. , who was it that said. ( with knowledge cones a price ).

 

[Jared Eason]

* comes a price

 

[Jared Eason]

Golden forge you cracked me up with this one. " looks like someone had an accident with their Be-Dazzler ". Thanks everyone for sharing there experience with this.

 

[Red Green]

Well, the Christens say it was God. I'll say the price is the loss of ignorance, something no popular religion will tolerate. I wouldn't mind if you wished to judge my work or me, as long as you don't attempt to enforce your findings.

Bob

 

[Jared Eason]

To each there own I say. I love hearing opinions of my work. I would post some of my own but up till now I been using a rotary tool. And don't really consider that ( engraving ) more so carving .


Anyone else have there perspective changed after learning more about this art ? Common don't be shy. Share with us..

 

[Jared Eason]

And thank you for sharing that Sam. When I first wanted to hand engrave I found your other website and from it I learned a good bit of what I know.

 

[Red Green]

Knowledge almost always changes your prospective that is why it is seldom tolerated beyond a certain level. Knowledge is becoming aware, understanding reality. So if you gain nothing but instruction from things you are told is that knowledge?

Bob

 

[SamW]

One of the road signs of improvement along your path to learn engraving is when you "all of a sudden" start noticing the little errors in your hero's cutting that you never noticed before. It can be harder to see in your own work. The word "you" means everyone, myself included.

 

[Jared Eason]

Guess that's why people say. Knowing is one thing doing is another. I just found it funny at how just knowing more about engraving changed my point of view so drastic . Where I'm from I rarely get that . Not a whole lot of view changing experiences in a machine shop of poultry processing plant .

 

[Red Green]

As SamW says " when you "all of a sudden" start noticing" you've gained understanding. It has been proven throughout history that the further away it is from commonly accepted "fact (usually a bad guess, or lie)" the higher the price will be to express it. Caution is always the best policy when dealing with the natives, especially engravers, when they take a poke at you it leaves a hole. That's where you are, where are you going?

Bob

 

[Lee]

I believe it was Will Rogers who said-the problem with our nation is not what we don't know but what we think we know that just ain't so. It's pretty easy to broaden that one out into engraving and anything one would like to dump in the bag.

 

[mitch]

Knowing is one thing doing is another.

and i'd add that engraving is such an arcane field, both from mechanical and artistic standpoints, that NOBODY who has not actually done it at a very high level has a true appreciation of the very best and what it takes to make it so. there are some very knowledgeable collectors, and craftsmen in related fields of endeavor such as gunmaking, knifemaking, & jewelry, who have a fine eye for the good stuff and can, for the most part, separate wheat from chaff, or caviar from chicken****, but their appreciation of our art will ever be fairly superficial. to not only tell bad from good, but good from great, and understand why the distinction can be made, along with knowing how the work is done is but a small part of what we do. unless you've expertly guided a sharp tool through steel and felt it yield under your touch, ultimately resulting in a thing of rare beauty, you'll always be an outsider to our little world...

while this is true to varying degrees in virtually all fields, i'd argue it's particularly prevalent in engraving. sometimes it's an odd feeling knowing how few people on the entire planet can do what I and a handful of others can, and how very few truly appreciate it- which is largely each other.

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

You must have been looking at engraving from the self proclaimed Master Engravers.

Bob