The Portland Engraving Project - Day 2

The Portland Engraving Project - Day 2

 

Visualise the finished piece

Before you even look at the glass you need to visualise the finished piece. Watch athletes doing their warm up - all of them are visualising the race ahead, right through to the finish. If you can visualise it in your head, no reason you can’t do it on the glass. Now look at your sketches and try to anticipate any problems that you may encounter. Get a feel for the weight, size and balance of the glass. Decide what to do first; plan your route to the end.

 

Relax – you can do this

This is a big job by any standard but it’s ‘doable’. Break it down to one figure at a time. It’s purely about being relaxed and being confident in your ability. If you make a mistake, generally it’s fixable. You can polish out slips, repair chips and go deeper/wider; who’s to say that (within reason) a nose isn’t that long or bicep that big?

 

Buzz off

Let’s start off with the outlines. You’ve already worked out a size to fit the figures around the glass and have them on (a few sheets of) tracing paper. If you rub the plasticine on the back of your tracing and tape it to the glass, positioning it carefully, you can re-draw the image with a point (a dried up ball-point); it will transfer an accurate but faint outline to the vase. Redraw the figures with a marker. If you are happy with them, you can now use a drill & diamond point (known around here as a buzzer) to leave a permanent outline. Stay inside the drawn lines; we’ll be carving them away later. I’m doing half (3 figures) to begin and the others later – it’s so the photographs will be clearer.

 

Today’s tip - Looking at your work from the back can help see depths better.

 

Meet the Engraver 1. Mr.Benchmark

When it comes to engraving, my colleague here is the benchmark on both time and quality.  He works competently and methodically through every job; no time wasting errors, just exactly what’s wanted engraved without flaw. He cuts a circle 10 degrees at a time, meticulously following the line, smoothly feeding the glass to the wheel, like an airplane touching down and taking off again.

Lesson – mastering technique takes practice but don’t be afraid try stuff.