If it could go wrong

[K Frei]

Well here is my latest debacle. it seem like if it could go wrong it did, everything from incorrect scrolls to staining the blade, and making the lock pins visible. All in all this was an exercise in what not to do; i learned alot about shading though,so thats what i would like you to look at and tell me what you think K Frei

 

[Ed Westerly]

Overall very pleasing. There are a couple of leaves on the outside of the backbone that the angle of the shading is wrong and doesn't follow the leaf direction, but they are not powerful enough to be seen right way, so, well done.

 

[Sam]

It's easy to make invisible pins suddenly show when you start cutting around them. Depending on the knife, it can be anything from not seeing them at all to having a distinct 'circle' around them. It's normally not an engraver's fault if they suddenly appear.

As for the design errors, those should be corrected before engraving. If you must, draw your design on paper and really work it out well before you engrave it on the knife.

If you'd crop away the unneeded part of the photo and zoom in on the knife we could get a better sense of what you did. From this perspective it doesn't look bad at all.

Can you elaborate on the staining of the blade?

 

[K Frei]

As for the design errors, those should be corrected before engraving. If you must, draw your design on paper and really work it out well before you engrave it on the knife.



Can you elaborate on the staining of the blade?[/QUOTE]
Well it goes like this i felt like my design was good, i just didn't cut it well. I was able to make up for quit a bit of it in the shading but its still not what I had hoped for. I decided to try and french grey it so I blued the scales and the stainless bluing solution worked at a different rate on the pins than it did the main canvas, and I decided to remove it all together. the different processes go on the blade and dis-colored it near the pivot. right now the coloring is done with lamp black and renaissance wax. K Frei

 

[K Frei]

I'll try and get a closer pic I just shot this one free hand it may take a while K Frei

 

[Dale Hatfield]

Here is a quick tip . If your looking at a pic and its too small and wished that the background was gone object centered and up close.
do this simple keyboard shortcut. PRESS THE CTRL KEY and hit the + key to make pic larger and the - key to make it smaller.
This works to a point, pic quality goes away quickly but it really helps to get a closer look.
I also use this on forums when text runs off the screen.
Dale

 

[Andrew Biggs]

I wouldn't be to disheartened with what you have done. It's not all as bad as you think. You have quite a bit going on that's heading in the right direction and your shading is not too bad.

A lot of this is all about making the mistakes yourself because you seldom learn anything from other peoples mistakes otherwise we would all be perfect

If you look at where you have started and look at what you've done then you should be pleased. Your progress is enhanced or hampered by two distinct things. The first is natural ability and the second is the amount of time that you put in practicing.................sometimes sheer bloody mindedness will also get you across the finish line

Keep it up, your doing well.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[K Frei]

Thanks Andrew!!! I need to hear that. K Frei

 

[monk]

i think you're being a bit harsh in critisizing your work. take a serious look, you're not going to find anything that's terribly wrong.