That is a fine design. You have minimized the background removal. That is nice, Reminds me a bit of Phil Coggan's work. Look forward to seeing it cut. Remember your budget for the job-ALWAYS and never under charge. If it is not cheap enough for the customer, set it aside and do anther job more in line to the budget and save this for a spec knife, sample or to use and enjoy and use as a sale piece, Fred
Thank you for your insights Layne. I was hoping some dark shading in the recesses will balance out the "heaviness" in that area of the design. I will cut it and see how it looks in the end and improve on the next designs.Jan, I would only point out one spot that may be out of balance. The element in the bottom right corner is "heavier", for lack of a better term, than the surround scrollwork. The single large leaf is a lot of positive space in one spot and doesn't balance out with the negative space in the rest of the sketch. This will become more apparent once the piece is cut and background removed. I've made this mistake before. It isn't as obvious in the sketch but once cut it will be.
Be sure of the steel you are going to cut. I have also fallen into the trap of an overly ambitious design on a bolster that turned out to be flint hard and therefore added to the time and changed the finished look of the piece due to lack depth.
Layne