some more recent(ish) work...

[mitch]

This is a lovely Harumi Hirayama "Swan" model, in the larger size. She used sterling silver for the bolsters, but a stainless steel hinge pin, so rather than try to hide it or ignore it, I featured it as a neat spherical element. I also had some fun with the various mechanical & decorative pins out in the pearl scales. The three gold pins in a row near the bolster are actually raised/crowned, but the other three- one SS lock pivot and two gold at the rear- are polished flush with the surface and the 3D spherical effect is just an optical illusion. (The close-up is a work-in-progress shot still in the Cylinder Block fixture with the blade taped.)

 

[Marrinan]

Mitch, I don't believe their is anyone in the world who could match your ability to create three dimensional scroll work. Another masterpiece of your engraving artistry. Fred

 

[mitch]

Thanks, Fred, I try to experiment with new & different things to push the envelope of what's possible with dots & lines on a flat piece of metal.

 

[monk]

yeah ! that's really cool stuff !

 

[KCSteve]

You're getting closer and closer to making things look like they're floating off of the surface.
Really amazing work!

 

[jetta77]

Awesome work Mitch... Shading and making your subject look 3D is not easy.... Are you inking??? Oil?

 

[mitch]

Are you inking??? Oil?

it's completely clean, no oil, no ink, no nuthin'- i even roll 'poster putty' across it before photographing to make sure there's no crud stuck in the dots. i use a very fine, very sharp graver point (60˚ face, maybe 1-1.5˚ heel), polished down to 0.1μ diamond film. it seems counterintuitive to use a super-polished graver to make dark dots, but it creates a virtually perfect point that makes deep clean holes into which light falls and doesn't return. ;-)

 

[thughes]

Wow, just way cool.

Todd

 

[RDP]

Super cool Mitch!, what material is the graver you use, hss? thanks,

Richard.

 

[sam]

It looks like a photo on steel. Very rich shading.

 

[mitch]

Super cool Mitch!, what material is the graver you use, hss? thanks,

Richard.

i use some sort of hybrid(?) stuff. can't remember if it's Glensteel or carbalt or something like that.

 

[davidshe]

Really impressive and so creative! thanks.

 

[bronc]

Mitch, you work always amazes me!!!

Stewart

 

[LVVP]

Very nice shading, thanks