My first Bulino / banknote portrait engraving

[Roger Bleile]

...So most of my clients like my jewels where they can see it is done by hand. In other words, "not well done" The design on the other hand has to be good, but if I work one day longer to have a jewel perfect, that don't sell better, and not only because it is more expensive, they want to see the "hand" in it.

arnaud

Arnaud,

You have raised a point that I think is very important for anyone who wishes to make a living in a handcrafted trade. There will always be a few artisans who have established a clientele for works of perfection but the large majority has to deal with a more cost conscious and less discerning trade. For most of us, if we spend the extra time and effort to achieve perfection (on commercial work) we will go broke, quit the trade and get a corporate job. Who benefits by this? I have found that the difference between a job that is 100% perfection can take three times as long to complete as one that is 95%. As an example, we all admire scroll seen here containing 15-20 perfectly spaced shading lines in a leaf of 5 mm size. If you have customers who will pay for this that is wonderful but most customers will be perfectly happy with 5 well-placed shade lines in the same leaf and will be much happier with the cost. This reality should not restrain an artisan from working for perfection on personal items for self-improvement. Also there are many hobby engravers who are not restrained by trying to make a living and should strive for the ultimate on every piece.

I can relate to your comment about the customer who wants to see the "hand" in it. I like carved wood figures, and reliefs. Many carvers today work for perfection and absolute realism however what they achieve, after carefully sanding and painting the object, is indistinguishable from the same thing cast from resin or plaster. I like to see the natural wood with only a stain or oil on it and see the gouge marks on close inspection. This is why I personally prefer relief-sculpted engravings to ultra fine bulino work. The Austrian, German, and Belgian gun engravers were especially good at relief work with just the slightest hint of punch and chisel marks visible on close inspection. None of this is to infer that I prefer scroll full of rough cuts or progress marks. I find that buyers like the work to look cleanly cut.

Now, none of this is news to most long term artisans but I wanted to reinforce Arnaud's point for those who see this bewildering array of engraved objects, from the awe inspiring to the simple, and hope to make a living from it in the future.


CRB

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Thank you Roger, I could not have said it better, but I tried.
And it is good you mentioned the 95 and 100%, because of course I like to go for 100% but then I don't want to sell it, unless I can have the price for it, and even than...

Sure I am an al round professional, I'm not gone make a list of it but I do it all.
My experience is, if it has to be good you have to do it yourself.

That does not count for everything of course, but certainly for high quality commercial jewellery.
I know it is a bit foolish to make jewels in Europe as you can buy them cheap made in Thailand or even China.
But I have always done so.
Now these days, "I harvest the fruits" of it. I never had employees, raised 5 children, my wife has never gone to work and I still like my job very much,
Most important to is I'm still learning new things like engraving, and although it is crisis time, I never had so much paid work
.
So sure I'm lucky, but it is not only luck, I make my own coffee, I clean my shop, talk to the customers, make al the jewels, so that is why I know what customers want. And even when I don't have much time, I talk to them, as it gives me inspiration and a good feeling when I made them something they like. Even when it is not High End.

arnaud

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Following on from Rogers comments I think also that perhaps it raises the issue of size in relation to the work we do.

Engraving is supposed to be seen with the naked eye. Viewing a Rembrandt from a certain distance is fabulous as you are viewing it as the painter intended it to be seen. If you stand with your nose pressed against the painting it isn't so attractive.

One of the things about photos and enlarging them, which is easier now than it's ever been with digital cameras and computers, is that you are literally viewing the work with your nose against the canvas so every slight imperfection shows up............although it is surprising what small detail and imperfections can be seen with the naked eye

This can be compounded with the use of a microscope where the temptation to overwork an area into a meaningless mess or start adding lines and detail for the sake of it without any thought for the actual design.

Yet it can be that very imperfection and detail that gives it the necessary human touch and beauty that only the human eye can perceive. It imparts personality into the work.

It's an interesting topic with no real answers or right or wrong as it varies so much from engraver to engraver.

Cheers
Andrew

PS. When I talk of imperfection I don't mean lumpy scroll or crooked lines.

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Cheers
Andrew

PS. When I talk of imperfection I don't mean lumpy scroll or crooked lines.

Of course Andrew,


The design must always be perfect, I mentioned that earlier, when I say people like it when they can see it done by hand (a way of not perfect) the design must be good and in balance.

But as there is Rubens and Rembrand, there is also Van Gogh, even when you look at his paintings from a distance, it is just "scratches" or smear.

arnaud

 

[ddushane]

Outstanding Job Arnaud, Looks just like the picture. I'm sure the client will be well pleased.

Dwayne

 

[John B.]

Roger, Arnaud and Andrew....
You guys are right on and I could not agree with you more.
In many cases the client is not interested in musium quality artwork to be kept untouched in a vault or safe.

Many clients are more interested in viewable, durable and somewhat unique craftsmanship that allows the item to be used for its intended purpose.
A gun that can be used in the field, a knife that can be used to cut and a piece of jewelery that can be worn.

There may be a lot of personal satisfaction in producing the high-end art work.
And we owe a debt to these artist for the publicity their work receives which benefits and inspires us all. This type of work does not always provide the highest return for the hours spent by the artist, however.

 

[monk]

arnaud, that is a really good likeness of the person.

 

[Jim Sackett]

Very very nice Arnaud

I remember years ago hearing about a technique using your thumb print as the line pattern. And cutting the lines at different widths to create the picture. It looks quite simular to what you did. Very good work.

Jim

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Jim..........now that's sounds like a really interesting thing to try!!

 

[Ron Smith]

What you are talking about Arnaud is survival. Many today haven't had the experience of building a business and trying to survive in a mass production mentality society, and still retain a high quality of work. Volume comes first, cause you don't make money doing masterpieces. You make money doing volume until possibly later with fame. The masterpieces come when your reputation will allow a decent price for the extra effort.

It is a lot different when you have to be very careful to generate the numbers of clients you have to build to have a consistent income. It is easy to satisfy most people if you do generally good quality work with a little uniqeness. That is what one needs to strive for.

The main thing really is how you treat your customers. They will accept about anything you do as long as you do professional work and treat them with respect and value their patronage. That is really what it is all about. You make a bigger impression if you can satisfy all levels of the spectrum, from the lowest to the highest patron of the art, but that means versatility. That is what it takes to survive.

I would say that you have a lifetime of experience at doing just these things as I have, and my appreciation for those who have supported my efforts are far worth more to me than doing a "perfect" job every time. I cherished my clients as it allowed me to do the very thing I loved. I didn't make a lot of money, but I don't regret a moment of my years doing what I love and getting paid for it. It doesn't get any better than that, but of course that is just my opinion, and probably yours.

One of the things missing in our learning process today, is that students are not in a business invironment and have no experience in running or building a business from scratch and maintaining it, and also sticking with it for forty years.

I see what you are saying and you are correct, but I see from the same vantage point as all the others who have struggled to make a living at it. Engraving is easy compared to that. We pursue our art in a time when people haven't the slightest idea of what it takes to do what we do. It is a good time however, as the trend back to that realization that hand work is the touch of the human hand and in that is love. there is no love in a machine. It is only about money.

Forward.

Ron S

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Well as the "Bulino" portrait I first did was just practising on silver to see if it could be done also on a commercial base, I now finished the golden one.

arnaud

 

[Mario Sarto]

Arnaud, that looks pretty good to me! Also the lettering.
Well done.
Mario

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Thank you Mario, it can only become better when I've done more of these.
I suppose you know about these photoengraving that are done by machine, gold and silver is to soft in my opinion for the fragile dots.
Perhaps making the gold harder with more copper is better for fine engraving. I will try that one day.

arnaud

 

[Jordi]

Sorry I hadn't replied to this post before. Nice work Arnaud!
It's a different but acceptable and original way of doing a portrait. As you said there are many styles and ways of doing artwork, as many as artists.

About which parts must be engraved deeper, raising the contrast level of the image using Photoshop is helpful at times. That gives a clear idea of wich areas will be darker and deeper, and which lighter or even without dots. I hope that helps simplifying the amount of work.

Also, good lighting is fundamental. The best photos for portraiting are those were light comes from one side. That leaves a third part of the face in dark and allows shapes to come out easier. But you know, customers won't usually bring you photos like that.
And the lettering is so clean!!
We hope to see more of your unique style portraits.

Sincerely,
Jordi.

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Thank you for the reply Jordi, indeed customers rarely bring you the photo like you want them. It is even weird there are no photos at all when someone dies.
And that at a time there are so much cameras available.

arnaud

 

[Paulie]

I have a client who what an engraving on a round gold plate to be add to here bracelet.
Normally I would have done this by the one who has the Photoengraving machine.
But at is for a bracelet, the dots will be ruined soon.
And as I like hand engraving, I thought I will do it by hand, its a good practice and I get paid for it.


From Marcus I learned that he once made a “bulinoâ€￾ that was not accepted because none could see the lines.
But if you look at a banknote, with a loop X10, witch is standard to inspect fine work , you see lines.

So my idea is, why not engrave scenery / portrait that looks like engraving, with lines that can be seen.

The way I think these scenery / portrait is engraved the best, is the deeper the better.
These engravings, like al the others, need to catch light.
So the most durable ones are the ones with the deepest cuts.

My portrait can’t be compared with what I’ve seen here like the ones from Phill, Ron Marcus and all the other masters.
And this can be done with more and finer lines of course, but that means more time to engrave and less durable.

I have engraved this for practicing in about 6 ours on a polished plate, the engraving itself, not the plate, is from top head to bottom 26 mm
I used a 60° cabide with a face of 50 and a heel of 10.
I will have to redo it on the golden one

I’m also sure that portrait is perhaps the most difficult there is as it must look like the person.
I only had a small photo, so not that much detail

What do you think?

arnaud

This is the small photo I have with not much detail

This is the engraved portrait in approximately real size

This is how it looks with some magnification

Wow, congratulations Arnaud !! To me, the man on the engraved portrait looks very much alike the photograph, I guess (a human portrait) must be very, very difficult to engrave !! Personnaly I have no experience with metal engraving, only with stone sculptures, pencil & inkdrawing, painting....sad but true...yesterday evening I missed my first 'engraving class' at T.N.A.-Antwerpen ! I counted 1,5 hour to get there from home (Zottegem) I got completely stuck in the R1 in traffic, missed the right direction (Rotterdam-Linkeroever) ...and returned home when I noticed that the lesson was already 1/2 passed. However, I want to give it another try next week ! Greetings, Paul.

 

[gluckie]

Styles of art of bulino

Hello everyone. Before expressing my views, I would introduce myself. My name is Guillermo, and I'm engraver in metal and more specifically, miniature pieces. Particularly my engraving area are the portraits of people. I have read the previous comments and I realize that I am among experts. Every day I learn more about this fascinating subject of engraving, particularly what is now known as "bulino". From my very particular point of view, at times it is an engraved portrait miniature, rather than the number of lines or dots, are the effects of these traits in sight with a burin or other tools. The smaller a portraits, just some points or lines to near-real effect. The problem is when the engraved portrait is larger because it would require additional crossing lines, a few points closer than others to provide shade and light. The style of engraving that shows the friend Arnaud interesting. Maybe it's a style that conforms more to the old engravings. This does not mean longer bulino technique, as the techniques and styles evolve according to the names that they are responsible. I have some doubts: Is the photograver can be applied to gold and silver? I understand that you can not. Am I wrong about this? I can not write well in English, I hope you can understand me. They also attached some pictures that I prepared as time has passed. The photos I took are not good quality. I have no professional camera. I just want to show that there are many techniques and styles in each portrait of people. Thank you.

 

[GGS]

Thought you guys would like to see this.

It was engraved on copper by a friend of mine in England. He's done a lot of banknote work for the mint here.

Clever man!

 

[Peter E]

WOW...that is good work.

Thanks for posting it.

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Luckie, thanks for showing these portraits.

arnaud