Left handed

[Sebastian duran]

Hello everyone,

I have a couple of questions about engraving letters. I’m a lefty and according Sams videos on lettering, he does the bright cuts letters with the left side of the flat. obviously becouse he’s a righty. So do I have to cut them backwards?
and what do you guys do so your hand don’t shake when writing on metal?

Thank you and have a nice day.

 

[allan621]

Most paper is really an abrasive that takes off pencil lead as you draw, leaving an image. Most metal is the opposite. If the metal is polished smooth there is nothing to grab onto the pencil lead. The pencil lead just slips around. Takes a while to get the hang of it but it will never be perfect like on paper.

That's why I use a layer of watercolor first so you can see the pencil lines.I do a lot of sketches and I have to remind whoever is looking at the sketch, that it won't come out looking perfect like a pencil drawing. Now some customers have to see a tighter drawing So for them I draw it on paper, scan it and make a transfer to apply to the metal. That makes people satisfied. And that makes me money.

I'm assuming you've been left handed a long time. And you have run into this problem before dealing with right handed people who can't help you because they can't figure out how to do the same operation left handed. Its kind of a stalemate.

SO I was involved in this kind of stalemate before when I had a left handed apprentice. I tried to wrap my head around the best way to teach in a left handed approach but couldn't figure it out. So I told her that she knows how the tools should be sharpened and what the letters should look like. Then I figured out the magic words. Get yourself some copper sheet and play with it. I mean she had been dealing with translating right handed instructions her whole life. She got some copper sheets and started experimenting and taught herself what I couldn't and she became an excellent engraver.

Start by getting some decent copper sheets. I still practice and get it from Tira Mitchells shop. Copper is important because you need some cutting resistance but not a lot; which helps because you get to work on the cutting and not fighting the metal. And see what doesn't work until you discover what does. Sam Alfano's DVDs are like gold, so watch what he does and adapt.

Allan

 

[Sebastian duran]

Thank you once again Allan for your insight. Your definitely right. I’ve had to get used to all of things that are made for righties and learn how to do with my left hand. I was watching an Argentinian engraver that mention “if your lefty, then all the cuts are backwards” so I got confused while watching Sams videos. I wish I could speak with your apprentice and see what she did different.
I also got Sams transfer wax and is been great. I do like the sketching first on paper, scanning it and then printing it approach. I might give that a try. I recently been ether sketching it on metal. Or using digital software.
I also got met some copper and brass sheets. I even got aluminum sheets to practice so I should be good there. Lol
Attached is an image of a copper practice plate I been working on.

 

[monk]

Hello everyone,

I have a couple of questions about engraving letters. I’m a lefty and according Sams videos on lettering, he does the bright cuts letters with the left side of the flat. obviously becouse he’s a righty. So do I have to cut them backwards?
and what do you guys do so your hand don’t shake when writing on metal?

Thank you and have a nice day.

at first, beer took care of my shakes. later, dbs brain surgery took care of the shakes. ymmv btw: your copper plat work looks really nice. keep on truckin !

 

[Daannyycc]

Whether she cuts left or right makes no difference, really. As she leans the cuts it will give the correct effect. When using an engraving ball vise, it makes no difference if you rotate it left or right.
Most engravers have to cut "backwards", if you will, on many of their drawings to get what they want done.
A lot of shading is leaned left on one section and right on others, so..........

 

[AllenClapp]

Not long ago, I was watching a live engraving presentation by a left-handed engraver and, when the issue of turning the work into the graver came up, a right-hander had a question about it. The engraver was able to change the feed so that the picture being sent out was reversed left to right and he looked like a right-hander. I don't know how to do that, but I suggest that, if you can figure out how to reverse the screen left to right when viewing a DVD, the reversed images would do away with such issues. Does anyone know how to do that? I don't know if it was his outgoing software or if we can do it for something we are playing.

 

[mdengraver]

I am left handed but was trained to engrave with my right hand. I adapted well, and holding a graver with my left hand feels extremely wrong and awkward! That being said, if you are just starting out, for most of us, I believe a left hander can learn from the beginning to engrave with the right hand. For a number of reasons it's less problematic! Also, I believe the cuts and shading of the letters are generally visualized as coming from a light source from the upper right. Therefore, cutting with your left hand would block that real or imaginary light which could present some problems, my 2 cents. Any and all calligraphers out there? I believe writing of the 26 letter English alphabet not including other alphabets was designed for right-handed people who are clearly the majority of the population. As a left hander, writing while growing up and now, I must pay careful attention not to smudge my writing while moving across the page. This is especially true when you're hand writing using script!

Occasionally it is possible for a graphologist to make a good guess whether the writer is left or right handed because the writing may be smeared by southpaws dragging their palm across the script. But it’s an educated guess, not by any means a certainty.

From the internet:
Is there any written language designed for left-handed?
Jason Whyte
, Non-hooked left hander
Answered Jun 28, 2018
Written language only appears to have arisen a couple of times in human history - most notably in China and in India, which between them gave rise to nearly all our surviving written languages.
Neither was “designed” for left-handed people; it’s likely that right-handed people were the majority of the first writers, because right-handedness is predominant, and so the conventions of writing were put together in a way that suited right handers.
However, several languages, including Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Farsi and Urdu are written right to left [1], which makes it easier for left-handers to write them without smudging the ink. Perhaps their originators included some left handers?

---

[1] Japanese traditionally is too - but it’s top to bottom in columns and then right to left, so fairly hand-neutral.

Bias against left-handed people​

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Bias against left-handed people is bias or design that is usually unfavorable against people who are left-handed. Handwriting is one of the biggest sources of disadvantage for left-handed people, other than for those forced to work with certain machinery. About 90 percent of the world's population is right-handed,[1] and many common articles are designed for efficient use by right-handed people, and may be inconvenient, painful, or even dangerous for left-handed people to use. These may include school desks, kitchen implements, and tools ranging from simple scissors to hazardous machinery such as power saws.[2]
Beyond being inherently disadvantaged by a right-handed bias in the design of tools, left-handed people have been subjected to deliberate discrimination and discouragement. In certain societies, they may be considered unlucky or even malicious by the right-handed majority. Many languages still contain references to left-handedness to convey awkwardness, dishonesty, stupidity, or other undesirable qualities. In many societies, left-handed people were historically (and in some cases still are) forced as children to use their right hands for tasks which they would naturally perform with the left, such as eating or writing.[3] In the late 20th century, left-handedness became less stigmatized, and in many countries, particularly the Western world, left-handed children were no longer forced to switch to their right hand.

Because most societies are inherently biased against left-handed people, most of us left handers are a bit ambidextrous to adapt the predominantly right-handed world we live and work in!

 

[AllenClapp]

It is interesting to note that highly technical professions seem to have several times the percentage of lefthanders as the normal population--especially the energy business.

 

[R.Quecke]

I’m a lefty, have been for as long as I can remember. As long as youre not creating bad habits that is compromising your art or the end product, don’t over think it. With lettering, it shouldn’t matter which way you’re cutting, as long as the “calligraphy” (thick to thin) are in the proper place, you just might be rolling the graver to the other side instead of what is recommended. Sometimes we have to do things backwards from how most do it, and others we have a flow. I had to learn to tattoo from bottom right to upper left, instead of the normal bottom left to upper right. Either way, perseverance is key. That and making funny stickers that go with being a lefty.

 

[J Sontag]

I am also a lefty! It helps if you can 'mirror' video tutorials. For anything on YouTube, here's a super easy workaround to flip the screen horizontally: https://www.mirrorthevideo.com

For Sam's video, I watched it with a small mirror propped up in front of my phone - not very high tech but it got the job done