Second knife

[Axl]

Hello everyone, again around here, this is my second knife for the tobacco maker, I think I have had some progress compared to the previous work, what do you think? Thanks in advance.

[-Daniel-]

Looks like a very great engraving to me, really nice work and a fresh design! A fantastic job!!

But the knife itself looks difficult to handle. Is it supposed to cut the tabaco leafes?

[Axl]

Originally Posted by -Daniel-

Looks like a very great engraving to me, really nice work and a fresh design! A fantastic job!!

But the knife itself looks difficult to handle. Is it supposed to cut the tabaco leafes?

Hello Daniel, thank you very much, this knife is used to cut dried tobacco leaves in the process of shaping it.
This video shows a traditional tobacco knife.
https://youtu.be/yPKGB-kDicc

I will leave an image showing more details about how to hold the one that I have built, the grip is something symbolic, it does not really hold for it.

[Steve Lindsay]

Wow - Wonderful design and cutting! You are super at this.

[Axl]

Originally Posted by Steve Lindsay

Wow - Wonderful design and cutting! You are super at this.

thank you very much Steve, much appreciated. I want to take advantage and ask you and other members. What do you think of the shading? Any suggestions on this? Maybe deepen the lines where they converge? In person the contrasts are more vivid, the dark areas look much darker, but in the photos they look lighter, I am not sure if this is a problem with the engraving or the fact that I am taking the photos with a mobile phone and a homemade light box or I'm using a permanent marker to ink everything. Please, I am not afraid to hear criticism of any kind, I am prepared for it, I need advice to help me improve, So do not be afraid to hurt me, you will not, on the contrary.

[Axl]

Originally Posted by -Daniel-

But the knife itself looks difficult to handle. Is it supposed to cut the tabaco leafes?

here are the photos, the handle is symbolic

[-Daniel-]

Thank you, now the knife makes sense
And will it be used to cut leaves later or is it a collectors item?

There is really almost nothing to complain or to criticise on your work. You can find flaws even in a masters work. Your shading looks perfect, dont worry about it. The design is fantastic aswell. One might argue about the design but thats just because of personal style and what one person prefer. But thats like arguing if coffee is better than tea if you know what i mean.

IF i should point something out than maybe you could add a few shading lines on the biggest leaves. There is a slight imbalance between shaded and non shaded areas. But again, thats just personal preference.

[Axl]

Originally Posted by -Daniel-

Thank you, now the knife makes sense
And will it be used to cut leaves later or is it a collectors item?

There is really almost nothing to complain or to criticise on your work. You can find flaws even in a masters work. Your shading looks perfect, dont worry about it. The design is fantastic aswell. One might argue about the design but thats just because of personal style and what one person prefer. But thats like arguing if coffee is better than tea if you know what i mean.

IF i should point something out than maybe you could add a few shading lines on the biggest leaves. There is a slight imbalance between shaded and non shaded areas. But again, thats just personal preference.

Thanks Daniel, I think it will be used as a collector's item, but the owner can use it to make his own cigars, this knife will go to a Humidor Gallery, we'll see what happens🤞. I fully understand what you explain about preferences, tea and coffee 😂😂, I want to thank you again for your opinion, they are very appreciated and very useful, I like to hear different opinions, when we spend too much time in a job we adapt to it and we miss things that could improve and more if we are beginners. Only those outside can see such things. This usually happens to even the most experienced teachers, imagine what can happen to me 😂😂😂. I don't know if I explained myself well, I think an ancient painter turned the painting he was working on upside down or covered it up for a while to try to solve these vision adaptation problems. I will keep it in mind for future jobs, there is no time left for this. I will also put much more interest in shading when drawing

[-Daniel-]

I wonder what you made before? It is hard to imagine that you are a beginner with no artistic experience. What you show is way beyond some work of engravers which are long time in the business.

It is right, when you sit some days or weeks on a project you cant see the flaws anymore. It is always a good idea to let the work rest for a while and look back at it with some temporal distance. But regarding the leave i mentioned, i would not consider it as a flaw. It is just that the larger white space makes it more prominet. It does not blend inside the rest. Of course it should stood out as highlight and without a contrast work becomes boring. Just in my opinion i would have added a very slight amount of shading to break up the large white spaces.

Regarding the grey photos or the loss in contrast i guess thats normal. Making images from an engraving can be ungrateful sometimes. But you did a nice job there too.

[Axl]

Hello Daniel, I am certainly a beginner when it comes to engraving, I am a Goldsmith, I worked 11 years in an artistic workshop, a place with a lot of energy, there they work mainly with wood and metal but other materials are also used, I always liked the techniques of embossing in thin and thick metal, the construction of pieces from other pieces embossed and then welded and the carving in wood, specifically the reliefs. I'll leave an image here so you can see what I'm talking about. The first time I saw an engraving was in 2015, one of Steve, on that date I registered on this site, but due to my work there was almost no time for engraving, six years have passed since then and all the engraving works that I have done are in my profile including the practices, there have not been many. As a result of the pandemic, I went to work at home and then I am dedicating myself full time to Recording, The knives of my last 2 publications are the productions since then, that is why I consider that I am a beginner although it may not seem like it, I have many things to learn about engraving, experimenting techniques etc. Regarding the shading, maybe I should have put some more shadow lines there, although it was intentionally to give more volume to those leaves, a few more lines would not have hurt, I certainly had my doubts about it. Thank you very much again, I look forward to moving from job to job.

[Axl]

sorry, i forgot about the photo

[EdwardBinninger]

Knife looks pretty awesome! Nice work - Ed

[Axl]

Originally Posted by EdwardBinninger

Knife looks pretty awesome! Nice work - Ed

Thank you very much Ed