View Single Post
  #30  
Old 10-19-2012, 11:12 AM
jaf506 jaf506 is offline
Copper
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2
Default Re: ---Mike's Contest Submission Discussion---

That's just beautiful work. Great design, crisp execution. Beating a dead horse a bit, so the undercutting chisels do have sharp edges but have slightly convex faces to help with displacing the metal, and also to help keep them from wedging in the grooves?
Do you try to lay the wire in the direction of one of the sets of grooves, or doesn't that matter much?
I'll have to dig out my Meeks book, but I think the sharp edged crosshatching is what he described for sheet inlays. With regard to sheet being better than wire (or not), do you find any tendency for the wires to separate as you're doing the final engraving after flattening/surfacing? No matter how mushed together they are, they're still separate pieces, as you noted, though even work hardened from the setting I imagine they cut so easily with sharp gravers that there's not much side force on them, and where are they going to go anyway? It's a wonderful piece. I love the way the gold pops after bluing. Thanks for sharing all this with us!
Reply With Quote