Hi all
Well I thought it was time to cut some letters, unfortunately I haven't touched the graver for a few days and the results show it, in the few days break, both the vice and graver were a bit uncoordinated . I must try to practice a little each day. Well enough excuses heres the results.
First plate was just to see what size letters to engrave , I am using the computers Edwardian script to cut at this time , no point in cutting badly formed letters as well, will not know what to blame the results on, although I will keep on practicing drawing them, also I was a bit unsure on what size to practice on so I printed one at 30pt and 36pt size to start at. this may be to big but I will see.
first plate
Well the 36 pt size was too large for me to cut the beauty cuts wide enought with my ( lack of ) graver control, will make a larger plate using 30 pt and will see how that goes, may even reduce that further. I would like to engrave the script as large as possible, to practice techniques , at 30 pt the letters are 5.5mm high.
set-out for second plate, (notice airgraver for brownie points)
And here is the results so far. top line was all cut with lindsays calligraphy graver, you can see I still have control issues using it to wide cut, although I felt I was a lot worse than I think I normally cut.
To try something different I cut the second line with a flat and a v graver. I must say I found this a LOT easier to control, especially on the end cuts with the flat as I could easier flick out the chip much neater and with better control. It made forming the letter shapes easier.
Cutting so far
Here are some better ( ish ) shots, I took one through microscope eyepiece, it sort of worked.
Sorry about the pictures, when I complete the plate I will try to post a clearer picture.
I like the control I have with using the flat then the v graver on these letters, I know I will gain control ( hopefully ) using the calligraphy gravers, but at this early stage its nice just to see some crisp cuts, I dont even mind the little bit of extra work swapping gravers, It even helps make me separate cutting the letters by their different components easier.
hopefully will finish this tomorrow
Paul