Critique Request First practice plate :)

[ByrnBucks]

Hello gentlemen, I finally finished cobbling together a make shift amateur work bench. The crown jewel being a GRS Gravermax G8, the rest of the setup consists of a cheap microscope rigged to a workable, A knock off block and the final piece arrived yesterday a pottery banding wheel set atop a solid semi adjustable stand with a wire spool side for a top. I hope at least some of you are grinning right about now, ether from fond memories of your own first setup or just the thought that I could not be more excited, proud and thrilled to have a hodgepodge bench to start hopefully getting serious. Anyways I know this is a tired old babies first scroll design everyone is tired of seeing but until now all I have done is my coins mostly hand pushing and I’m so very happy to share this zero detail outline I buggered up one of the leaves but other than that if anyone sees anything particular I should focus on or avoid doing on my next one before I develop a bad habits please feel free to rip this apart

Thank you for looking, I would not be this far without the knowledge and support of everyone in this wonderful and welcoming community. Dustin Byrn

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hey, it’s your first practice plate. What is there to say other than to encourage you to cut and draw as much as you can.
just keep at it and enjoy the ride. Well done.
cheers
Andrew

 

[JJ Roberts]

Duston, Your off to good start you may want to go to Scott Pilkington's engrave-in in Monteagle Tn. there you'll meet other engravers it's great gettogether. J.J.

 

[AllenClapp]

Duston, Your off to good start you may want to go to Scott Pilkington's engrave-in in Monteagle Tn. there you'll meet other engravers it's great gettogether. J.J.

When is the Engrave-In this year?

 

[Goldjockey]

Hello gentlemen, I finally finished cobbling together a make shift amateur work bench. The crown jewel being a GRS Gravermax G8, the rest of the setup consists of a cheap microscope rigged to a workable, A knock off block and the final piece arrived yesterday a pottery banding wheel set atop a solid semi adjustable stand with a wire spool side for a top. I hope at least some of you are grinning right about now, ether from fond memories of your own first setup or just the thought that I could not be more excited, proud and thrilled to have a hodgepodge bench to start hopefully getting serious. Anyways I know this is a tired old babies first scroll design everyone is tired of seeing but until now all I have done is my coins mostly hand pushing and I’m so very happy to share this zero detail outline I buggered up one of the leaves but other than that if anyone sees anything particular I should focus on or avoid doing on my next one before I develop a bad habits please feel free to rip this apart

Thank you for looking, I would not be this far without the knowledge and support of everyone in this wonderful and welcoming community. Dustin Byrn

That's one of Sam Alfano's scrolls, I myself have cut many times on practice plates.

Its a great way to get a physical sense of the design, and figure out how best to cut it. Your very first cut looks pretty good. You've gone a bit wide on some areas of the backbone and narrow on others, so that's where I'd start with the next few practice plates. Just the backbone. Everything grows from the backbone so getting that right is critical. Once you can cut that smoothly, cutting the leaves and elements should come more naturally. Once you get to that point, I suggest practicing your tapered cuts.

That's actually a great scroll to work with. If you want to see a lousy one, that no beginner should have to engrave, it's the one GRS provides as standard issue in the first basic engraving course book.

Anything relatively simply Sam has drawn, is a great starting point for practice. Everything is right there, and drawn correctly, so you are absolutely on the right track.

 

[ByrnBucks]

Hey, it’s your first practice plate. What is there to say other than to encourage you to cut and draw as much as you can.
just keep at it and enjoy the ride. Well done.
cheers
A

Much appreciated sir It was extremely satisfying to finally dig into a blank plate and I can’t wait to sit down start another.

 

[ByrnBucks]

Duston, Your off to good start you may want to go to Scott Pilkington's engrave-in in Monteagle Tn. there you'll meet other engravers it's great gettogether. J.J.

Thank you sir I contacted him several months ago, he was nice enough to put me in touch with one of his students here in Chattanooga. I will look into attending that event I have yet to meet with anyone practicing this wonderful art.

 

[ByrnBucks]

That's one of Sam Alfano's scrolls, I myself have cut many times on practice plates.

Its a great way to get a physical sense of the design, and figure out how best to cut it. Your very first cut looks pretty good. You've gone a bit wide on some areas of the backbone and narrow on others, so that's where I'd start with the next few practice plates. Just the backbone. Everything grows from the backbone so getting that right is critical. Once you can cut that smoothly, cutting the leaves and elements should come more naturally. Once you get to that point, I suggest practicing your tapered cuts.

That's actually a great scroll to work with. If you want to see a lousy one, that no beginner should have to engrave, it's the one GRS provides as standard issue in the first basic engraving course book.

Anything relatively simply Sam has drawn, is a great starting point for practice. Everything is right there, and drawn correctly, so you are absolutely on the right track.

I very much appreciate your time and review. Yes Sam’s ornate scrollwork book had that in its pages, and his DVDs were eye opening after learning though trial and error for several months. Thank you for the advise I will be sure to focus intently on the backbone moving forward though I did cut them first I didn’t hold them above any of the other lines as they should be.