Thought some of you might enjoy seeing the progress on the engraving of this game scene. Obviously a little self serving, but maybe the tradeoff for y'all seeing it come to life makes it a wash, so here goes.

Starting off with a 22k gold border, the inlay line is marked with pencil, then a scribe, and cut the a square graver. The sides of the cut are undercut with a dinky little flat chisel. Gold wire is hammered into the cannel with enough force to push the gold into the undercuts. The remaining gold left proud of the surface is stoned off the area is repolished. A little "chinese white" is rubed on the area to be engraved so pencil marks show up.


The scene is of a male lion ahold of a buffalo by the nose. I used a picture from the internet as a refference. Here is my rough sketch on the steel.



This will be a deeply carved scene, so the background has to be DEEP. The idea is to break up the scene into layers, and the more depth on the background, the more layers I can cut for more realism. Background removal is like digging a ditch for engravers. Monotinous work, but it has to be right. The first few cuts...



This scene will have a matt background. The background is relatively small, and the "action" going on in the scene needs to be the only focus. Once the background is deep enough and flat, it is stippled with a sharp point. Here you can see the scribe marks providing the general lines for the scene and the finished background.



More to come tomorrwo...

I thought Leonardo Da Vinci was dead!

Hello
At Dallas, this will be like the carnival seeing the fat bearded lady. I will have a tent set up $5.00 admission to see and hold the gun. I need to pay Bailey some how.
Bailey I just got home see ya soon.
Drool baby Drool

Larry

Larry,

I hope you left those big tuskers for me when I return with dad to hunt with Karl.

You have a masterpiece coming along there!

This what the other side will look like
[IMG:top] [/IMG]

What is unusal about this picture anybody Know????

Bail
No new pictures yet????
Larry

Larry, WOW..

Mike

Here I am starting to establish the different layers. I like to start with the lowest layers first and make my way up. It is easier for me to control the depth of each layer this way. The buffalo's horn is the highest layer, followed by the lions nose and lower paw, then his forehead and eyes along with the Buff's face and eye. The lion's mane and buffalo's neck make up the lowest layers.

I'm not much on animal engraving, but I do love the deep relief on the top that action.

Well hell, I've gotten a descent amount of work complete on this, but all of the pictures I took were out of focus. All of those shiny surfaces are hard to photograph. I'll get more in natural light tomorrow. Just didn't want y'all to think I had forgotten about this thread

Bail
We just thought you were napping.
Larry

SCCCHHHHNOOOOOCKK ( thats how you spell the snore sound of a startled engraver)

Finally snapped a few pics of the scene. There is still a lot to do, but it's moving along.

The engraving chisels I use are a 90degree square graver, a couple of flats, two polished punches for chasing, and a fine pinted tool similar to a bulino tool.

Some of the carving is heavy cutting, some just brushing dust sized chipps with the sharp shoulder of the graver.

Here are the pics. The last one is the lion's face as viewed through one lens of my microscope ( 10X ).

dam old friend that looks great!!!!!!!!

Bails, I'll slip you $1,000 at Dallas if you make it come out looking like Burt Lahr from the Wizard of Oz! :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Bails, I'll slip you $1,000 at Dallas if you make it come out looking like Burt Lahr from the Wizard of Oz! :-)

Just engrave in "Put up your dukes" next to the Lion

I was joking with Aaron that I should have made the first cuts that outline the scene look like the lion and buff were making out. Larry may have had a coniption though. I don't want to hurt the man :-)

quote:

Just engrave in "Put up your dukes" next to the Lion

Or under the Lion..."Courage" in gold letters! LOLOLOL

Bailey

Thanks for posting these pics. One gets to see that talent/skill that goes into the artwork.

Simply AWESOME!

Bailey
Please dont even respond to Biebs or Hook.
They both are having withdrawls.
They can't stand it I will be first kid on the block to have this great masterpiece.
Please don't let either of these two touch it even, they may run off with it. Yelling all the way
ITS MINE YES ITS MINE.
Larry

ENGRAVE (PIMP DADDY SPECIAL) on the barrel PLEASE!!!!!!!

Ok Guy's
Now that its such a great looker
It will be $300 to get your cookies off with this little darling.
Thats what PIMP DADDIES do right!!!!!!!!!
Larry

Ain't nobody gettin no cookies off in my booth, $300 or not.

Bails, at Larry's age, the show would be long over by the time he got that far!!!

Biebs,
too late I have already been to bailey's shop and fondled it during the build you an't never getting all that DNA off it

Now THERE'S too much information!!!!!!!!!! :-(

I cant make any promises Bailey. If one of those models walks by...

quote:

I cant make any promises Bailey. If one of those models walks by...

Then you'll buy another chance at something at other, or another magazine subscription!

Somebody is gonna DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Looking forward to seeing Bailey and the rifle!

Well, a couple of days till it's show time. The scene is 99% finished, next will be the scrollwork on the side and top tang. That is probably all the engraving I will be able to complete before the show though. I hope y'all will understand it's still a work in progress. Just so much time in a day.

OH MY!

Wonderful thread. Thank you for posting the work in progress.

That is a lot of effort and skill Bailey. Thanks for sharing the process with us.

Matt