CLA Game Fair

[PS_Bond]

This weekend is the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace. Gunmakers' Row should have some nice examples of engraving on display, which I'll probably spend some time drooling near (as opposed to over)... Is anyone here going to be demonstrating this year?

 

[steichman]

Peter,
That's great to know i will be over this weekend takeing care of horses for the US Olympic team. I should only be about an hour or so south. If my timeing premits that might be a nice show, Blenheim place is a nice nice estate. i have been their for many horse events. Drop me an E-mail

Steve

 

[Marcus Hunt]

Blenheim is only 15 minutes from me so I may go along on the Friday. I won't be demonstrating this year though. The Game Fair is a great day out.

 

[PS_Bond]

Steve - mail sent; I'll be up on the Saturday.

Ah, that's a pity Marcus. Having seen your work on Jim's knives, it would have been great to see some being cut too - learned a lot just from looking at it.

 

[Degs]

I hope the weather is better this year, the CLA Game Fair at Harewood House was cancelled last year, so I missed out, and only a few minutes from me. Had to go to a bike rally instead.... Even wetter and very muddy. I'm thinking about popping down for the weekend, hopefully stay over with a friend.

OooH! I can wear my 'Engravers Cafe pin'......

Cheers

Degs

 

[PS_Bond]

Well, I went; wearing my IGraver pin too.

Had a fantastic time - started off by looking closely at some of the cheaper production guns (for certain values of cheaper!), then went on to look at the slightly more upmarket guns... Picked up a brochure on Famars and was having a look at that when I heard a distinctive "taptaptap" - a demo of hammer & chisel bulino. Had a bit of a chat with the guys there - who have a website at http://www.ilbulinosrl.com - had a closer look at the tools they were using (particularly the business end of them) and was able to peer at some of their work with the aid of a loupe. Really strange seeing the cuts close up that look so black from a distance - there's no blackening in any of the bits I looked at.

Went on to look at the Purdeys and Holland & Holland - the Purdey stand was slightly irritating in that the glass cabinets made it more difficult to see the engraving (but polarised glasses help). Also, particularly with the more expensive guns it would have been nice to have known who the engravers were. I think the most expensive I saw (well, with a tag on them anyway) was a matched pair at £120k.

2 main things were reinforced - I need to stop trying to do such deep cuts in steel, and I need to reduce the size of my graver faces, they're stopping me seeing what I'm doing clearly.

Oh, there were a couple of other stands around too - a lot of the usual ones for any of the country/horsey fairs, but a lot more general outdoors stuff which was good to see. The Saturday seemed very well attended, but was spread out enough that there wasn't an oppressive crush. The weather was kind too - a stark contrast to last years flooding, but I did see a couple of people carted off with what looked like heat exhaustion (possibly aided & abetted by beer).

Where's next years? Probably not Romsey, that would be too convenient for me!

 

[Phil Coggan]

The art of 'TRUE' bulino engraving is to produce jet black 'WITHOUT' ink.

Phil

 

[PS_Bond]

The art of 'TRUE' bulino engraving is to produce jet black 'WITHOUT' ink.

Yup - but never having seen it in the flesh before it was quite an eye-opener. I could see that the cuts were clean through the loupe, so it was strange swapping back & forth between naked eye & magnified view.