Practice Plate

[Tezash]

First of all I would like to thank Sam Alfano for this web site. This web site and Sam's tip has bennefited me a lot, I wouldn't be able to reach where I am now with out this web site. Thank you very much for your kindness, Sam.
I started to engrave seriously 3 1/2 month ago, in the past three months I engraved 5 practice plates, this one is the latest. The practice plate is 2X2 inches, design idea is taken from Sam's web site. The letters hight is 1/8 of an inch (my name). I use flexishaft to remove the back ground, I use push graver for the shades and I use Graver max for stippling back ground.
Please, leave your positive comments, as it is important for me.

Thank you, Tez

 

[GeorgeKhayata]

Hi Tez,
For three month of practice, your engraving is very good, but I rather let the masters say their comments and advices.
Good luck to you.
George

 

[Mike Cirelli]

Looks good for only 3 1/2 months. You will see improvement with every scroll. The shading needs to serve a purpose of giving depth. If you have Ron Smiths first book it helps a lot with giving dimension to scroll and leafs. Take segments of the scroll and practice them and then put them all together like he shows in the book. You won't believe what will happen. Scrolls are one of the toughest things to get down. but you came to the right place these guys will tell you straight.
Keep cutting
Mike

 

[sam]

Tez: Thanks for posting a photo of your practice plate. You are doing well, and only 3.5 months! I like how you did the letters, too. Be careful about sanding or polishing your work after engraving. A little bit is ok to deburr the cuts, but only a little bit. It looks like you might have sanded a bit too much. Of course inexperienced engraver's work usually requires more deburring and smoothing than an experienced engraver's. As your graver control improves, your cutting will get cleaner with less burrs.

Keep up the good work, and post more photos for us to see.