Method of engraving Old English

[allan621]

This was done in a big time hurry. If you want I can take a piece of silver and actually show the cuts in metal, but that can't be done until the weekend.
There are a few things about this method. 1. Its crazy simple. 2. Its crazy efficient. 3. What makes Old English work is the uniformity of the angles. This method does that.

The heavy cuts in black are made with a wide liner ( I prefer this except inside rings when I use the flat ) or flat tools. The thinner cuts in blue are made with a square tool.

1. The O.E. layout in pencil.
2. Cutting the diagonals first.
3. Cutting the Verticals next.
4. Cutting any horizontals ( usually only the bars on the left side of capitals ) and the curved heavy bits coming usually from the bottom of the letters.
5. cutting the thin curved diagonals completing the letters and the little off cuts simulating pen nibs.

 

[AO84]

Allan, thank you very much for taking the time to post this.

 

[tdelewis]

The height of the letters for this type of test should be related to the width of the broad vertical stroke. When using a pen to make the letters the lower case letters should be as high as five pen widths, the upper case letters should be seven pen widths. When you write these letters with a pen the broad nib is held at a 45 degree angle to the line of writing. The vertical stroke will be a little less than the than nib width and the diagonal strokes will come out as a line. Hold the pen as you were taught in elementary school and imagine writing the letters instead of drawing them. I would suggest you get a pen or broad marker and practice this. I know we are not using pens to lay out the letters. For engraving use your dividers like a pen setting the distance between the points to one fifth of the size of the letter you are working with and do exactly what you would do with the pen. When I get my new cell phone working I will try to get some images of how this layout works.

 

[sam]

I use 4 guidelines when laying out the lowercase letters. Helps me keep everything consistent.

 

[monk]

the albert winter booklet shows a lot of info on establishing layout procedure. just one of many.