Critique Request Bulino family portrait

[Mike576]

Finally done! Started October 22nd on a piece of sterling silver. Restarted on November 23rd on a piece of 6al4v titanium.

The first one being dead soft sterling silver was super soft and I didn’t pop the bur out on every cut. When I would ink the piece the small burr would flatten and distort the image. On the new piece I flicked out the chip on all the short cuts and it was less of an issue because I used titanium.

Took me about 70 hours between the first piece and the final second piece being done. The first piece eating up about 25 hours of that time before I gave up and restarted.

Done entirely with a Phil Coogan bulino point and a round stipple point and no pneumatic assist.

Just a cheap tissot watch and I made the dial from .020 titanium sheet on my lathe.

Very hard to get a good photo behind the original flat sapphire crystal so I ordered a anti reflective coated double domed sapphire. Helped a ton when viewing in person but almost impossible to get a photo without the blue tint.

This was by far the hardest project I have done to date and I’m pretty happy with the results but want to grow more. Please feel free to post advice. I posted some super close up photos taken on my phone so hopefully they come through with enough detail! Thanks for your time

 

[John B.]

Some wonderful work.
Keep it coming !!

 

[Mike576]

Some wonderful work.
Keep it coming !!

Thank you! I have another piece I’m working on at the moment, another watch dial face in titanium. This time a bald eagle with a mean looking glare. I’ll post it when it’s finished up a few weeks from now.

 

[monk]

i'd say this is rather precious. looks good to my eye.

 

[Mike576]

i'd say this is rather precious. looks good to my eye.

Thank you, precious indeed. My wife was quite pleased to say the least. This idea came about when I was having a bit of designers block. I just thought to myself what wouldn’t I mind staring at for hours on end?

 

[allan621]

I have to say that it is a great portrait of your kids. The few engraving of kids I've seen make them look cartoonish but yours are very natural looking. Its something I wouldn't even attempt. Thanks for showing it.

Of course the question I have is that you don't mind staring at the portraits being done for hours on end. Would your wife mind staring at you for hours on end? My wife only stares at me for hours on end if I don't take out the trash.

Great piece of engraving.

 

[Mike576]

I have to say that it is a great portrait of your kids. The few engraving of kids I've seen make them look cartoonish but yours are very natural looking. Its something I wouldn't even attempt. Thanks for showing it.

Of course the question I have is that you don't mind staring at the portraits being done for hours on end. Would your wife mind staring at you for hours on end? My wife only stares at me for hours on end if I don't take out the trash.

Great piece of engraving.

Thank you! I tried to make them as realistic as possible. Still work to be done, i learned a lot from this process and feel some faces came out better than others. For example comparing my ear vs my oldest son’s ear. Recently I have been reading “Firmo and Francesca Fracassi: Master Engravers” and studying casting plates I got from fega trying to wrap my head around the way cuts are made to achieve various outcomes. I plan to engrave another watch like this every 5 years or so to see our change over time also my skill progression over time.

I get the same look when we hear the truck coming down the road to get the cans and I forgot to bring them up!

 

[thughes]

Very cool!

 

[Mike576]

Very cool!

Thank you!

 

[monk]

I have to say that it is a great portrait of your kids. The few engraving of kids I've seen make them look cartoonish but yours are very natural looking. Its something I wouldn't even attempt. Thanks for showing it.

Of course the question I have is that you don't mind staring at the portraits being done for hours on end. Would your wife mind staring at you for hours on end? My wife only stares at me for hours on end if I don't take out the trash.

Great piece of engraving.

dont feel bad. took me 49 years to fix our doorbell. my daughter actually bought us one that needed no wiring !! 3 cheers for the kids