Brian Hochstrat
Elite Cafe Member
Well, here it is. I finally finished this one up last week. This knife although small, only about 4 inches closed, became a big job. As you can see the scenes are all done in perspective, which can be a challenge to design and keep things in proportion. The knife took just over 30 days, 6 days of which were spent drawing. The theme is of course, King Arthur which presented a couple challenges in itself, firstly Ray Cover already did an Arthur theme so I had to be careful my ideas had not already been done, and look like a copy cat, and second it is a very vague and contradictory story. So to avoid things like the sword in the stone and lady in the lake, I went off in a different direction. It is not the original idea the knifes owner had envisioned, but when I submitted the rough sketches of the idea he liked it, and onward we went. I wanted to give the viewer an in the saddle feel, to make the scene more engaging, how many of us can say we have ever jousted, not many, but you can get an idea of what it would look like if you had the chance. Anyway, I made and submitted several drafts and we kept modifying and refining until we both were happy with the plan.
This ivy leaf design is something I have been playing with since this spring. I have always liked the ivy/grape leaves, but avoided it, being so many prominent engravers, such as Churchill, Coggan, and Lindsay, are known for their versions of that style and I did not want to just copy what someone else has worked to develop, it is sort of pledgerism and again I don't want to be a copy cat engraver. However, this spring while fishing, actually not catching fish, I was walking down the creek bottom and I spotted some Ivy, I stopped and studied the plant for a time and then picked a few leaves for further study. So I patterned the leaf after what I picked, now there are only so many ways to invent the wheel and I have studied what others have done so I cannot say I invented anything but, I feel I came about this leaf design honestly. In any event, I felt the ivy would work well with this knife being it grows on castles and such and would tie in with the theme.
Merlin and Gwenivere are in the pockets and we decided on using colored gold to help with the surprise inside effect. Gwens hair and Merlins staff crystal are 18K pink gold and Gwens cloak and Merlins staff are 14k green gold. Gwen stands behind Excaliber, kind of symbolization of a woman standing behind her man, and Merlin swirling up a spell against Arthurs enemy Mordred. Also the coat of arms are of Arthur and Mordred, Arthur's is obviously the three crowns. Anyway, hope you like it.
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This ivy leaf design is something I have been playing with since this spring. I have always liked the ivy/grape leaves, but avoided it, being so many prominent engravers, such as Churchill, Coggan, and Lindsay, are known for their versions of that style and I did not want to just copy what someone else has worked to develop, it is sort of pledgerism and again I don't want to be a copy cat engraver. However, this spring while fishing, actually not catching fish, I was walking down the creek bottom and I spotted some Ivy, I stopped and studied the plant for a time and then picked a few leaves for further study. So I patterned the leaf after what I picked, now there are only so many ways to invent the wheel and I have studied what others have done so I cannot say I invented anything but, I feel I came about this leaf design honestly. In any event, I felt the ivy would work well with this knife being it grows on castles and such and would tie in with the theme.
Merlin and Gwenivere are in the pockets and we decided on using colored gold to help with the surprise inside effect. Gwens hair and Merlins staff crystal are 18K pink gold and Gwens cloak and Merlins staff are 14k green gold. Gwen stands behind Excaliber, kind of symbolization of a woman standing behind her man, and Merlin swirling up a spell against Arthurs enemy Mordred. Also the coat of arms are of Arthur and Mordred, Arthur's is obviously the three crowns. Anyway, hope you like it.
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