stationery Engraving

[burin_only]

I'd like to post a photo of an engraving I cut in Steel for the Daughter of a friend. I don't see a category for stationery engraving on this forum and I'm wondering if there are others here making a living this way

 

[rod]

Welcome, burin_only!

Nice cutting, and delighted to have you start posting here. Do tell us a bit more about yourself, where are you, and something about your skills and background? This forum is open to any and all engraving styles and methods and will be enriched by your postings. We also have some other disciplines posting of great artistic interest to engravers. The forum is a generous place to share, and seek comment.

best wishes

Rod

 

[Marrinan]

Welcome Bruin_only, It is great to see you here. There a a few of the members who started a stationary engravers but now focus on other aspects or at least show their other type work. I know that most of those involved at Emporia State University do a lot of print engraving. It was the only 4 year engraving fine arts program in the US. There have been lots of questions over the years of this and other forums on engraving about print engraving. Great to see your work. Fred

 

[Sam]

Welcome burin. You're the only stationery engraver in this forum as far as I know. That's beautifully done! As Rod says, tell us more about yourself.

Cheers / ~Sam

 

[burin_only]

some info

I apprenticed when Reagan was president. We did alot of letterheads and weddings but I did many monograms and family crests also and I'm very proficient at three dimensional types of seal work, which I enjoy most.
I live in Virginia now and I work full time at a letterpress shop as a pressman and platemaker making hot foil dies and letterpress cuts and printing them.
I engrave for stationery out of my basement and I'm looking for Engraved Stationery shops that have die stamping presses that might require a trade engraver to cut quality hand engraved steel dies. I can do lettering of course but I'm most interested in doing seals, crests and picture work.
I've been looking at the bright cut work on this website and I'm impressed not only with the quality of workmanship but also at the popularity. I didn't know.

 

[Sam]

Is your name a secret? It'd be nice to call you something other than burin, but of course I will respect your privacy.

I would love to see more examples of your stationery work, especially seals and crests. I have a great admiration for your type of engraving, and have expressed concern that it might be dying out. I'd be interested in your comments on that.

My local friend who does (or did) stationery engraving is Noel Martin of Covington, Louisiana. Noel's son - as far as I know - has taken over the business but doesn't do hand engraving. Noel did what little needed to be done but said that the computer has pretty much replaced him.

 

[burin_only]

OK, like beauty, the internet can be a blessing or a curse. I'm a bit uncomfortable with the curse parts. So for now I'll just peek over the wall a bit and tell you my name is Bruce
As to this type of engraving dying out, I'm not an authority on that. The industry seems happy with photoengraving. It's cheap and quick and comes in 20 type style choices which makes production easy.
If you check out the Crane & Co. video on YouTube,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6N2r7zUv9g&feature=player_detailpage

the first thing you see is film coming out of a film processor. What's up with that? Does that really sell "Fine Engraving"?

We used to have a sign over the bench that read: Engraving Service, Quality work, Cheap, Quick. - pick one.

Like I said I'd like to find more shops willing to offer a more distinctive product to do business with. But maybe the shops that do hand engraving have resident engravers. I don't know.
As to my own work enviroment, I use steel burins (gravers) with wooden handles, I use an assortment of rounds, flats, and squares which I sharpen on a diamond honer by hand. I'm used to holding it at the angles that I need.
I took a class a few years back in Maine on how to maintain Japanese woodworking tools and the instructor had us endlessly sharpening our chisels and planes, holding them in position with our hands, on water stones. It was too much for me to get used to the way he had us holding and moving the blades in such a short time. Mine was always off. It takes time to get good at a craft like this.
I use a 4 power loop on a stand which is (or was) standard. I have a few liners (gravers that cut several lines at once) in a drawer but I don't use them much.
I use CorelDraw if I need to to recreate art from samples or to organise design elements.
I'm happy to post some samples of my work but it will have to wait a week as I'm on vacation right now.
Bruce

 

[JJ Roberts]

Bruce,I look at the video on Crane & Co I worked in the printing trade for 42 years and was surprised to see some one still hand feeding paper into a printing press,started in high school on Chandler & Price and a ATF single color offset.For me it was a good trade I was never with out a job.What kind of letter press do you work on?J.J.

 

[burin_only]

Hi JJ, The company I work for has a C&P 10 x 13 ink, 2 Brandtjen & Kluge 12 x 18 ink, and 2 Brandtjen & Kluge 12 x 18's converted for hot foil stamping. They are all hand fed. All the automatic feeds were removed from them long ago. Isn't that ironic that the newest part of the press, the automatic feed system was removed so that the press could remain useful and productive in the modern world? And your right. It is a good trade that still has a niche if you can find it. But all the cuts and dies for them are photo-engraved for the type of work, quicky ink printing and flat foil stamping, that the company does. That type of work does not require hand engraving. So if I want to practice hand engraving I need to find work outside of that arena.

All of the short run engraved social stationery has always been and still is run on hand fed die stamping presses. It's a quick setup, run, and next setup for them. But some folks do still use and admire the quality of a hand engraved die and some are content with a photoengraved image.
I get a good feeling when I'm working with my hands and creating something special that someone wants to pay me for. It's tiring to stand at a press for hours feeding stock into a press, but I get to see creation happening and the customer is going to see and appreciate every piece I touch. And when they reorder I know they do appreciate it. And engraving dies is pretty much a spiritual experience. It's tough on the muscles of the neck, shoulders and neck. You've got to stay loose. I play Tai Chi to release that tension and I highly recommend it to anyone who gets tension from their work. But engraving is sculpture. Shaping a curve is like the feeling of success. It's just you and the burin and the steel. When I'm working in three dimensions, and I finish a part that I'm working on, I use a soft gum earaser and press it down into the engraving, pull it up and see what I've done pop. I feel like Michaelango. I've made something beautiful that is going to last a long time.
Bruce

 

[monk]

the world could use a few more people like you.certainly your engraving and prints are always welcome here many of us have become dependent on hi tech toys to do the work. quite refreshing to see someone who works the "old way" to get the job done.

 

[Sam]

Nice to have you on board with us, Bruce. Thanks for telling us more about yourself and your work. I've always been fascinated with stationery engraving and will be looking forward to seeing more of your work as you have time to post it.

I recently had some very nice letterpress cards made, but I supplied the digital file and they made the die or whatever it is they use on the printing end. Turned out really nice but maybe engraving would be superior.

Years ago I did one plate for stationery. I vaguely remember it, but it was a custom design the customer wanted. I spoke with my stationery friend to help me with selecting the right size and thickness of the steel die. It turned out well and the customer was happy. I don't have a photo I'm sorry to say.

 

[burin_only]

thank you for your comments

 

[burin_only]

Hey Sam, I've only recently been working with letterpress as a printer. I know that they used to make their cuts from hot lead. I got into doing prepress for letterpress shops in the 1990's and we made letterpress cuts photoengraved on zinc and magnesium. Now we can make them from plastic photopolymer in under an hour. These machines just keep on chugging along and finding ways to make money even in an age when we can print note cards in our laser printers in seconds.

I'm glad to hear that you have made a hand engraved die for the engraved stationery process. I hope I find more folks who do that.

 

[Roger Bleile]

The late Jim Sackett of Hallock, Minnesota was a stationary engraver many years ago. He was a member of this forum and passed away earlier this year.

 

[rod]

burin,

I came acros these two links that may be of passing interest:


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/arts/design/printing-for-kingdom-empire-republic-review.html?hpw

http://www.grolierclub.org/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=289912&ssid=169182&vnf=1

Rod