pilkguns
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Note:It might be best to open up another browser window and open this link. Most easily done by right clicking on the below link and hitting "open in new window"
http://learn2engrave.com/barbdes/index.htm
so you can follow along with the text. This knife is currently on its way to the Art Knife Invitational show in San Diego.
Design is the hardest part of doing art engraving. It can make a break a project. Here is the most challenging project I have had to date, a collaboration with knifemaking design genius Ron Appleton. Appleton locks are famous for their engineering design, and the flowing curves and shapes created by Appleton are also stunning. Look at the lines on this piece in the first few photos with the red background .Notice that this knife is not a mirror image from one side to the to other. Counting the blades, there are 5 separate surfaces that must be engraved, and keep a continous flow from one panel to the next, and as they change from an open to closed configuration. Also notice at first in the original pictures of the knife, the lock is not even cut into the bolster yet. I did not start even thinking about the design until the lock was completed, because I knew this could be a pendulum that would push the design one direction or another. It was.
Look at the lock in pictures 5,6 and 7. It is now the focal point of the knife, everything engraved on the knife is really based on that part. All of the design energy if you will flows from that point. What do you see in the lock? For me, turning and twirling it in my minds eye, there were three things that it reminded me of. First was an eyeball, but turning it into a eyeball that size in relation to the rest of the knife was not going to work unless I was Salvador Dali. Second thing it reminded me of was Saturn, the planet with rings. Ok, that might work, but what else? Well the only other thing I could come up with was … dare I say it… well, it had a ******l look. Some of the flowing curves on the rest of the knive did sort of suggest a nude scene, but if we did that with lock it definitely would have overpowered the rest of the knife, not to mention being rather on the crude side and on the poor taste edge of respectability. Soooo that left me back with Saturn which was’nt a bad thing, but what to go with the rest of it? I still had the those flowing lines reminiscent of naked female form, so why not a space chick… a little more kicking around got me to the cult film of Barbarella, derived from the French comic strip of the same name. We were off and running with a theme… but we still have some design issues to make all these engraved panesl agree with each other… using the exterior border to create ribbons that connected with the other panels was the way I made the overall design fit with each other, and you can see some of my drawing stages in the next few pictures . Actually in the pics 10 and 11, I was considering putting a diamond in the blade, that would be visible by cutting out the diamond shape in the middle of the bolster.
Picture 12 with all the pieces laying together is where I have committed to Barbarella movie theme, and decide to fill that larger panel on the right bolster with with a trypitch of which the center one is windshield shape of Barbarella’s spaceship. At this point, let me also preach again the gospel according to Thermo-loc. This stuff is amazing, and makes working on project like this so much easier, since I was having to do a lot of flipping of pieces to check alignment and fit.
13 shows where I have started sculpting Pygor the angels wings while filling in the sky with small scrolls.
14 shows the cavity cut for the pink gold inlay of Barbarella’s spaceship (it was red in the movie) and the same small scrolls that make up the space atmosphere throughout the blade. Yes, a close inspection of these small scrolls will reveal many reverses and flow issues that I would not do in a normal scroll pattern, but in this case I was trying to get the essence of the cloud with these tiny scrolls, and did not want the normal scroll flow. This would be a case of knowing the rules so you know how to break the rules.
The blade shot shows the same fields of scrolls now inlaid with what appear to be three of the attacking space ships, but the middle one is actually an anvil which is Ron Appleton’s signature.
Next shot is a close up of the opposite side, where she is being attacked by Parakeets, this is followed by some shots of me working on this area, using a sharpie to better define shade lines on the hair, and followed by a sheet of green gold ready to be cut.
The next two shots are of the blade and bolster hinged together while still made in separate holding blocks. This was to be able to check the alignment of scrolls as they jumped from the bolster to blade.
24 shows the blade in the nearly closed position with some drawing on the rest of the bolster. I think there is too much negative space in the last portion of the bolster, so I am adding another cut-through border and then need something to fill that space. What better to fill space with the but the earth?
The next shot is the inside of the right bolser where I am cutting cavities for an exploding space ship and part of the alien city.
The next four photos are of the knife prior to going to heat treat. Note that most of the inlays are hammered in, but not filed flush. When they came back from hardening was when I had tiny volcanoes of gold in some places, exactly what you see in the pics in other places.
The last four photos are of the knife almost finished, after bead blasting various areas. What remains now is a lot of stippling to do the fine details in the skin and faces. What follows is captions for the last four photos
Fields of small English scrolls appear as clouds as the space ships and birds fly throughout the scenes.
Blade closed , left side
The unique lines of the blade and knife are tied together with the borders cutting through the scenes.
Barbarella and Pygor are flying, Pygors wings are sculpted into the metal. Barbarella is carrying a gold ray gun that she will use to defend herself.
The atmosphere of space and clouds is represented by hundreds of small scrolls intermixed with each other.
North American, South America and Europe are visible on the planet Earth that she has come to defend.
What perhaps is a golden satellite is also shown but its real meaning is not clear until the blade is fully opened.
Blade closed, Right side
The center panel of the trypitch of scenes from the movie mimics the windsheild of her space ship, so it is as if the viewer is cosmic “peeping tom” looking through her windshield as she removes her space suit.
Miniature scrolls mimic the shag fur carpeting inside the cockpit of her space ship
Notice with the knife closed that the hair floating in the upper panel is flowing down into the hair on the blade as if it drops through the border.
The partial view of the golden birds on the bladed also look like other stuff floating around the cockpit.
The long thin trailing panel at the top bolster looks like a contrail streaming from the pink gold space ship that dominates the panel.
The left hand panel of the trypitch shows the snowcruiser where she has her first sexual encounter with a non-earthling.
The right hand panel of the trypitch shows the bird cage where she is first delighted then dismayed with thousands of parakeets. This panel foreshadows what will happen next when the blade is open.
Blade open, left side
The blade, always the point of danger on a knife, is where we see threats to Barbarella in the form of gold inlaid flying spacecraft attackers. Actaully a close look at the center one shows it isn’t a spaceship at all, but Ron Appletons’ signature anvil inlaid in gold.
A look at the lower bolster shows another attacking spaceship, although this she has shot down as it is exploding with pink, yellow and whitegold inlays. Notice also how the smoke billowing from the damaged ship turns segues back into the atmospheric scrolls again. The complete tower of the alien city is also visible now on the lower bolster.
Blade open , right side
Just as the left hand side of the blade showed winged attackers, the right hand side also shows Barbarella being attacked by many parakeets, depicted in green and yellow gold. Notice the dividing border of the left side of the blade is mirrored on the blade’s righ side , although this time with her left arm.
***** I guess I should have dared not to have said it, since Sam's filters filtered it out I see now but the word started with vag
http://learn2engrave.com/barbdes/index.htm
so you can follow along with the text. This knife is currently on its way to the Art Knife Invitational show in San Diego.
Design is the hardest part of doing art engraving. It can make a break a project. Here is the most challenging project I have had to date, a collaboration with knifemaking design genius Ron Appleton. Appleton locks are famous for their engineering design, and the flowing curves and shapes created by Appleton are also stunning. Look at the lines on this piece in the first few photos with the red background .Notice that this knife is not a mirror image from one side to the to other. Counting the blades, there are 5 separate surfaces that must be engraved, and keep a continous flow from one panel to the next, and as they change from an open to closed configuration. Also notice at first in the original pictures of the knife, the lock is not even cut into the bolster yet. I did not start even thinking about the design until the lock was completed, because I knew this could be a pendulum that would push the design one direction or another. It was.
Look at the lock in pictures 5,6 and 7. It is now the focal point of the knife, everything engraved on the knife is really based on that part. All of the design energy if you will flows from that point. What do you see in the lock? For me, turning and twirling it in my minds eye, there were three things that it reminded me of. First was an eyeball, but turning it into a eyeball that size in relation to the rest of the knife was not going to work unless I was Salvador Dali. Second thing it reminded me of was Saturn, the planet with rings. Ok, that might work, but what else? Well the only other thing I could come up with was … dare I say it… well, it had a ******l look. Some of the flowing curves on the rest of the knive did sort of suggest a nude scene, but if we did that with lock it definitely would have overpowered the rest of the knife, not to mention being rather on the crude side and on the poor taste edge of respectability. Soooo that left me back with Saturn which was’nt a bad thing, but what to go with the rest of it? I still had the those flowing lines reminiscent of naked female form, so why not a space chick… a little more kicking around got me to the cult film of Barbarella, derived from the French comic strip of the same name. We were off and running with a theme… but we still have some design issues to make all these engraved panesl agree with each other… using the exterior border to create ribbons that connected with the other panels was the way I made the overall design fit with each other, and you can see some of my drawing stages in the next few pictures . Actually in the pics 10 and 11, I was considering putting a diamond in the blade, that would be visible by cutting out the diamond shape in the middle of the bolster.
Picture 12 with all the pieces laying together is where I have committed to Barbarella movie theme, and decide to fill that larger panel on the right bolster with with a trypitch of which the center one is windshield shape of Barbarella’s spaceship. At this point, let me also preach again the gospel according to Thermo-loc. This stuff is amazing, and makes working on project like this so much easier, since I was having to do a lot of flipping of pieces to check alignment and fit.
13 shows where I have started sculpting Pygor the angels wings while filling in the sky with small scrolls.
14 shows the cavity cut for the pink gold inlay of Barbarella’s spaceship (it was red in the movie) and the same small scrolls that make up the space atmosphere throughout the blade. Yes, a close inspection of these small scrolls will reveal many reverses and flow issues that I would not do in a normal scroll pattern, but in this case I was trying to get the essence of the cloud with these tiny scrolls, and did not want the normal scroll flow. This would be a case of knowing the rules so you know how to break the rules.
The blade shot shows the same fields of scrolls now inlaid with what appear to be three of the attacking space ships, but the middle one is actually an anvil which is Ron Appleton’s signature.
Next shot is a close up of the opposite side, where she is being attacked by Parakeets, this is followed by some shots of me working on this area, using a sharpie to better define shade lines on the hair, and followed by a sheet of green gold ready to be cut.
The next two shots are of the blade and bolster hinged together while still made in separate holding blocks. This was to be able to check the alignment of scrolls as they jumped from the bolster to blade.
24 shows the blade in the nearly closed position with some drawing on the rest of the bolster. I think there is too much negative space in the last portion of the bolster, so I am adding another cut-through border and then need something to fill that space. What better to fill space with the but the earth?
The next shot is the inside of the right bolser where I am cutting cavities for an exploding space ship and part of the alien city.
The next four photos are of the knife prior to going to heat treat. Note that most of the inlays are hammered in, but not filed flush. When they came back from hardening was when I had tiny volcanoes of gold in some places, exactly what you see in the pics in other places.
The last four photos are of the knife almost finished, after bead blasting various areas. What remains now is a lot of stippling to do the fine details in the skin and faces. What follows is captions for the last four photos
Fields of small English scrolls appear as clouds as the space ships and birds fly throughout the scenes.
Blade closed , left side
The unique lines of the blade and knife are tied together with the borders cutting through the scenes.
Barbarella and Pygor are flying, Pygors wings are sculpted into the metal. Barbarella is carrying a gold ray gun that she will use to defend herself.
The atmosphere of space and clouds is represented by hundreds of small scrolls intermixed with each other.
North American, South America and Europe are visible on the planet Earth that she has come to defend.
What perhaps is a golden satellite is also shown but its real meaning is not clear until the blade is fully opened.
Blade closed, Right side
The center panel of the trypitch of scenes from the movie mimics the windsheild of her space ship, so it is as if the viewer is cosmic “peeping tom” looking through her windshield as she removes her space suit.
Miniature scrolls mimic the shag fur carpeting inside the cockpit of her space ship
Notice with the knife closed that the hair floating in the upper panel is flowing down into the hair on the blade as if it drops through the border.
The partial view of the golden birds on the bladed also look like other stuff floating around the cockpit.
The long thin trailing panel at the top bolster looks like a contrail streaming from the pink gold space ship that dominates the panel.
The left hand panel of the trypitch shows the snowcruiser where she has her first sexual encounter with a non-earthling.
The right hand panel of the trypitch shows the bird cage where she is first delighted then dismayed with thousands of parakeets. This panel foreshadows what will happen next when the blade is open.
Blade open, left side
The blade, always the point of danger on a knife, is where we see threats to Barbarella in the form of gold inlaid flying spacecraft attackers. Actaully a close look at the center one shows it isn’t a spaceship at all, but Ron Appletons’ signature anvil inlaid in gold.
A look at the lower bolster shows another attacking spaceship, although this she has shot down as it is exploding with pink, yellow and whitegold inlays. Notice also how the smoke billowing from the damaged ship turns segues back into the atmospheric scrolls again. The complete tower of the alien city is also visible now on the lower bolster.
Blade open , right side
Just as the left hand side of the blade showed winged attackers, the right hand side also shows Barbarella being attacked by many parakeets, depicted in green and yellow gold. Notice the dividing border of the left side of the blade is mirrored on the blade’s righ side , although this time with her left arm.
***** I guess I should have dared not to have said it, since Sam's filters filtered it out I see now but the word started with vag
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