How does a person become a master engraver?

[Dani Girl]

How does a person become a master engraver?

What steps should a person be taking, say from my current position of working 4 days a week and practicing on days off and nights, currently doing engraving for the knife making community.

I've been working on my deep relief and haven't branched out much yet. Did a couple of animals the other day.

Do engravers get graded by sending their work away somewhere? How does it work?

Thanks everyone

 

[Gemsetterchris]

Master anything basically means you are at the top of the game in all areas & are known & respected within the trade at that *whatever* skill.
Mastering one skill like lettering would work but then you'd be a master letterer & not "complete", so you need to be careful.
Some use the term themselves & others are more humble...but you have to be honest or it means nothing

 

[mrthe]

Check the FEGA website i think you can sent a submission form or something like that, i son't know if is just for firearms all the way

 

[Bob A]

The Firearms Engravers Guild has a process to 'certify' Master Engravers. (http://www.fega.com/about/MasterEngraverInfo.asp)

(edit) Ha - Jinx, MrThe! (Enjoying the video, btw)

Bob

 

[Tira]

Dani Girl,

The "Master" designation means different things depending on the context. In the most traditional context - in Europe - a person would go through a very rigorous program for quite a few years being overseen daily by highly skilled "masters" and then would, in the end, prove by means of testing and work that he had the skills to have the title conferred upon him (or her). I am not sure of the exact process, but it is very structured and takes lots of effort.

In the US, FEGA has a "master" process where you may apply and get the list of skills needed for judging. Then you work on your own time to provide the examples needed and bring them to the national convention in January where your work is judged by FEGA and then you are either awarded the designation or are given points to work on and may apply again in the future.

There are many people who do excellent work and do not have the title. There are also people who are excellent in one type of skill, but are not as strong in other skills so it is very hard to put a finger on exactly what becoming a "master" engraver is.

Personally, I see engraving as a path that I can study for the rest of my life and never learn everything I wish. There is always more to learn - or to teach and help someone else on the path. Good luck on your journey. The FEGA site will give you some guidelines and you can contact some of the schools in Europe if you are serious about entering one of the programs there.

 

[mrthe]

In Spain to become Master you have to be working in your art/artisan speciality for more than 15 years after that a "Group" of persons that a lot of time are just merchants and have no idea about the craft like can be " the guild of jewellers" or " The guild of woodworking" etc ... examine your work and decide to give you the titulation of Master, is a bit questionable and strange but this is how it work.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

FEGA does indeed have a FEGA Master Engraver program and all the information is available on the FEGA web site. It’s important to note that the title is FEGA Master Engraver, not simply the generic term Master Engraver.

It’s basically divided into two sections. American members and international members. Both have the same judging criteria and the only difference is that the American members have to have their work judged at the Vegas convention and international members can do it by submitting photographs.

That is the easy part………………..The hard part is getting your work good enough to get to the judging stage. This takes a lot of hard work and practice. Some FEGA Master Engravers had to submit their work 2-3 times before gaining the title.

It’s certainly not a throw away title. It’s earned…………… It’s also an aspirational goal that you can work toward if you so desire.

Those FEGA members that have the title are rightly proud of it.

If you want to know more, then click here.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Andrew Biggs]

I've bumped this thread to the top.

It got locked by accident so if anyone else wants to chime in, then please feel free to do so

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Beathard]

Andrew, I thought the international master was presented but not voted on. Is it already approved?

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Gerry

It was voted on at the show in January and passed.......... All the information is available on the FEGA web site. Plus Barry Hands (FEGA President) wrote an article about in the last Engraver magazine (issue #102).

So yep.......she's a done deal

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Beathard]

Sorry. I must have misread the arrival. That what I get for engraving all day and night then reading as I fall asleep.