Mike Dubber
Elite Cafe Member
Most of the rifles I engrave for Custom GunMakers require some kind of animal on the floorplate - typically an animal that matches the caliber of the rifle. This time I got to do something I really enjoyed; I had the opportunity of creating a big Cifer letter "S" for the focus of the bottom metal. Years at the jewelry bench designing and cutting letters created a love and respect for lettering that I still enjoy today.
Big letters like this must be deisgned and executed precisely, if not, the errors are magnified with the size of the letter, and everyone sees it immediately - even if they don't understand letters.
The "Ghost Scroll" behind the S helps ground the letter in the oval...it is also emphasized by the fine silver border.
And to complete embellishment for the bottom of the rilfe:
My "Short Lettering Sermon for Students" goes something like this:
Most folks will casually appreciate and enjoy your scroll work even if it is poorly designed. They will seldom recognize errors...the don't understand scrolls and what makes them good or bad.
Likewise, if you do lettering poorly, everyone will immediately recognize your errors - we've all been trained since first grade to see and recognize properly designed letters.
The good news for engravers is that unlike scrolls, letters are not mysterious. They occur in fonts and they are readily availble for you to copy. So long as you engrave them as they are designed, and so long as you don't try change the font sets to make them "fancy," you can do letters!
Big letters like this must be deisgned and executed precisely, if not, the errors are magnified with the size of the letter, and everyone sees it immediately - even if they don't understand letters.
The "Ghost Scroll" behind the S helps ground the letter in the oval...it is also emphasized by the fine silver border.
And to complete embellishment for the bottom of the rilfe:
My "Short Lettering Sermon for Students" goes something like this:
Most folks will casually appreciate and enjoy your scroll work even if it is poorly designed. They will seldom recognize errors...the don't understand scrolls and what makes them good or bad.
Likewise, if you do lettering poorly, everyone will immediately recognize your errors - we've all been trained since first grade to see and recognize properly designed letters.
The good news for engravers is that unlike scrolls, letters are not mysterious. They occur in fonts and they are readily availble for you to copy. So long as you engrave them as they are designed, and so long as you don't try change the font sets to make them "fancy," you can do letters!