Monday, March 22, 2010

I've seen worse

I sure as heck won't be posting this on the forums or showing you any closeups, but this is my first line engraving. No dots. (Well, some stippling, but that's different). By the time I got to the feathers I decided to forego details, there's only so much time I wanted to spend on this. But I learned a whole heck of a lot about engraving in the process, made a gazillion mistakes, and know (at least in theory) how not to repeat a few of them.

8 comments:

Sharon said...

Hey, that's great! I like it! :)

Anonymous said...

You don't wanna show this beauty on the forums? Well then i have to set a link to this from the forums :)

It looks very well executed, Katherine!

Mario

Jan Blawat said...

Picky picky, you're such a perfectionist. But that's what makes your work so special. Looks like a good beginning, to me.

Anonymous said...

Okay, remind me again, you inked it and that is why the background and details show up, right? I also see ink on your hand in the photo. Another question is what if you did not ink it? What would it look like then? Do all of the guns that we have seen get ink? Or would the light have to hit the piece just right in order for you to see the image if it were uninked. What color inks can you use on metal or is it some speacial kind of ink like India ink? Is that enough questions for you today? -BMc.

Katherine Plumer said...

Mario, please don't! :-)

Really, it's full of problems, I need to improve a lot!

BMc, my goodness.
Yes, it's inked.
If it's not inked, the image shows up well only at certain angles. That's still sort of a problem even with ink (because of the way the metal reflects light) but it's better.
Guns are not usually inked, because when they are cleaned, oil would remove the ink. An accumulation of oil and grime produces the same inked result though, or close to it.
I used etching ink, but there are others that may be durable, it's just what I had and it's not like this piece is going anywhere.
Yes, that's enough questions.

Anonymous said...

Ok, your wish is my command :-))
I know, again your skills will blow of the socks of the guys!
I remember your comment while watching the bulino-work of Mr. DeCamillis on that gun. By the way - do you have his neat DVD already?

Hope you do a lot more!
Mario

Nancy K. said...

I think it's beautiful!

Nekkid Chicken said...

Personally

I love this piece.

The art of perfection lays in the imperfect.