Ken Hunt thread - engraving and artwork

[mrthe]

Wow!!! what treasure thank you for share!

 

[sam]

"Here I sketched different ways of introducing these into your designs."

 

[rmgreen]

Thanks Sam for providing and sharing your friendship with Mr. Hunt and especially his work. Thanks also for easing my concerns of copying his work. RmG

 

[LVVP]

One word - WOW!

Sam,

thank you very much for posting

 

[Deb Williams]

Thank you Sam for sharing this wonderful work and thank you, Mr. Hunt, for allowing Sam to post it for all to enjoy.

Deb Williams

 

[sam]

"This is rubbing, an engravers "pull" of my engraving, an expert can tell its my work by little nuances in the cutting just the same as hand writing, the way I would form the rose and shade the flowers. So many giveaways tell who did it"

 

[sam]

"Yes many hours , only training in patience can let you perform this type of work. 1st cutting out all the " bed" then undercutting to form a dovetail to hold in the gold, then hammering it in stoning off to flush with the steel, then engraving, a long process. No soldering as getting red hot in the hardening wouldn't allow."

 

[sam]

In this drawing Ken's taken one of my scrolls and added a few lines to change its character.

"This is to show how to make the same structure without too much extra effort. Just needs a bit of practice."

 

[sam]

"here is a photo take in the early 1920s of Henry Kell's father Harry. A gun engraver standing in Soho, London. Their shop was on Greek Street next to where Karl Marx lived. He was born in the 1850 s? Apprenticed to Tom Sanders. General engravers who did gun engraving and silver, at the age of 13. They engraved watch cases & other items that had personal inscriptions on them. From this where scrolls etc were put on everything Victorian. The scroll for gun engraving developed. With greater production of guns more engravers were required, speed to get them out for the shooting season, the Toffs didn't want plain guns, so a scroll that was easily taught to an unartistic youth was developed. A trademark design was like a logo. Long hours, no up to date machines. Just doing repetitive work. Some did get out of the rut by being able to do a larger scroll which some makers took to. But most were artisan workers. A job for life, Jim Jones Started at 13 & retired in his 80s doing small scroll & nothing else."



Henry Kell Sr.

 

[KCSteve]

I think I'm not alone in saying that I would love to buy a book of this. All it would take would be gathering the images and then having someone with at least a bit of engraving knowledge sit with Mr. Hunt, recorder running, going through all of them. Then a lot of typing a some editing and you have a book that would be an absolute treasure.

 

[rayf24]

I think I'm not alone in saying that I would love to buy a book of Ken Hunts work.
I would second that big time I dont know if any books have been done but if someone takes this up and produces a book along the lines of the ones done on the italian engravers then I would be happy to place an order up front and think a few others may also be up for it.
A talent like Kens shouldn't go un published just my view

 

[sam]

showing how you can draw on metal like paper,it doesn't smudge can draw fine with these pens just keep oil off it until later , hope you get good results , let me know .

Just tried out hair spray & talc does a good job too give it a try



For a try ,try hair spray this works but doesn't have the robustness of Damar varnish , it is water solubleI have drawn on it and given it a second spray on top ,but try all and experiment .some still use Chinese white , or wax but I think this will help a lot of learners ,good luck

 

[sam]

"A superb engraving of open scroll ie no cut background . Austrian #Based on English style ,can still be admired and drooled over over 100 years or more later.

Superb lettering. oh how I wish today's gunmakers would demand this quality of work , that is not to denigrate those engravers who do good work."

 

[sam]

"From this school of engravers I was taught to vary the cuts ,thin hairlike to thick tapering ,this keeps the eyes happy & greedy for more."

"I alway intend to enlarge parts of engraving so that it can be perused#by keen eyes ,those of us that can stand and stare at the artistry & craftsmanship ,we are all Nuts !"

"This plate was engraved in 1860s by Tom Sanders. He taught the Kell father & son (Harry Kell) who taught me in 1950. I taught my son & daughter I also gave lessons to Lynton McKenzie who passed on the technique to Sam Alfano, so through time there is continuity, fascinating!"

"these engravers who worked on watch cases ,snuffboxes ,Lockets ,etc which required small intricate engraved themes ,there was a small scroll that fitted the purpose .When the gunmakers built guns for the empire builders &the breech opening gun , cartridge easier to load ,making it more popular with the gentry ;the demand increased . From just a small amount of scroll on the lock ,the Victorian clientele wanted discrete but quality engraving on their guns ,but where to get these workers ? Turn to the jewellery trade they have the watch cocks etc engraved by expert engravers .so this is how it all started ,London , Birmingham were two of many .a writer wrote " that he thought " the bouquet inThe smallscroll & flowers were inspired from embroidery,no it was again to make a good design ,taken from those trinket engravers , each gunmaker had there own brand design ,easily spotted in the field from a short distance .it was rare for a one off gun to be engraved ,these men were artisans on a production line ,piece work made up a bonus ,couldn't be troubled with slowing down for one person ! Maybe a maharajah, Nabob ,nobleman , had one or two now and again"

"What would this look like drawn with a mono line as drawn with a Biro pen ?same with engraving learn by looking at the masters ,get inspired ! Although most of us don't understand Arabic language ,when written by a calligrapher we admire the fluidity of motion & shapes . A book keepers ledger boring in content but hand writing , beautiful Don't let us loose that gracefulness."

 

[Ed Westerly]

For writing/drawing right on metal, I have found a pen that does so beautifully. Hopefully I will still be able to get them after everyone finds out about them from this post!

The pen is called Itoya Finepoint system .1

It draws a nice fine line and stays on the metal very well. If left on overnight, you usually have to use a pink eraser to remove it. Having any oil on the surface will cause the ink not to take, but we all know how to degrease metal!

 

[dlilazteca]

Given to me by Ken in 1994, put together by David Trevallion, i've added a Copyright to it.

Phil

Would love to own one! any available? would look good in my shop

Saludos,
Carlos

 

[dickc]

Really nice stuff, I too would like a spiral-bound notebook!!

 

[Roger Bleile]

View attachment 31555

"A superb engraving of open scroll ie no cut background . Austrian #Based on English style ,can still be admired and drooled over over 100 years or more later.

Superb lettering. oh how I wish today's gunmakers would demand this quality of work , that is not to denigrate those engravers who do good work."

For anyone who may be interested, the inscription reading " K.K. Kammer Gewehr Lieferanten" translates to Chamber (personal) rifle supplier to the King and Emperor. Obviously this was a high quality gun. The other side of the gun or the rib probably had the gun dealer's name engraved or inlayed. A more usual inscription would read "K.K. Hofbüchsenmacher" meaning court gunmaker to the King and Emperor. K.K.= Kaiser und König.

Hofbüchsenmacher, Gewehr Lieferanten, and Hoflieferanten was similar in Imperial Germany to a Royal Warrant in the UK.

 

[leo]

That is some great stuff sam I tried the damar and talcum trick it works like a beauty I became member of Instagram just to follow you two guys here is some test I did with the damar and talcum powder but I twicked it a bit I use baby powder just regular and in one I use the formula that I got from the forum of the damar and lighter fluid mix and for drawing I use a pencil .03 to be exact

 

[leo]

The top is lighter fluid and damar and the bottom is damar alone and the drawing is only to show it works also it work with carbon paper if you need to trace something thank you sam