Snakes on a plate

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi everyone

Here’s my latest foray into the world of engraving. 2 snakes, 3 roadrunners and a mountain lion. It’s a Springfield floor plate, fully sculptured with a beaded background. The Mountain lion is from a photo I took at the SCI show in Reno earlier this year. The amount of stuffed wild animals they had there was incredible.

The inspiration for the plate came from my visit to the States and John Barraclough was telling me about a jogger being attacked by a mountain lion in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles and later Rod Cameron was telling us that they were seen not far from his home in San Francisco. The amount of dangerous wildlife in the USA is pretty impressive. We have nothing like that over here.

There was a lot to learn on this project and I’d probably approach things a bit differently next time. The first is to get your background deep and reasonably even from the start and the second, is it’s much easier to avoid scratching the sculpting work than it is to take scratches out. Also a bit more finesse on the leaf sculpting wouldn’t hurt.

As usual your thoughts, comments and critique are always welcome.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[jacques herbst]

nice one Andrew.it looks nice to touch if that makes any sense.if you think the us have got some dangerous critters you should come to South Africa we have got people

 

[John B.]

Great job Andrew!
John B.

 

[CUTTING METAL]

Andrew,
Far as I am concerned - "This is just wonderful engraving" If I could engrave this well - my head would be so big that I would not be able to fit through a doorway.
Thanks for posting the great pictures and sharing with "us want to be's" and experienced engravers.
Now back to more practice, Dick

 

[Andy]

Very nice Andrew. Is this a floorplate from an actual gun? If not it should be. Fine work

 

[Peter E]

Superb work Andrew. The lion is my favorite. As an aside, they don't oficially acknowledge mountain lions exist here in Connecticut where I live, but I saw one. Because I am not a "wildlife expert" nor had any physical proof, it is an unconfirmed sighting, but there was absolutely no mistaking that tail!

Your work just continues to improve. Always a pleasure to see it.

Peter

 

[Glenn]

Andrew,
There is one major problem with your floor plate. I'm hoping you will quickly correct this. The floor plate should belong to me.

 

[Joe Mason]

Looking good Andrew

Joe

 

[Tezash]

Andrew, it is nicely done. Nice texture and modeling. Tez.

 

[fegarex]

Super job Andrew! Just very nice touches.
What I'm guessing you have also found out in your US tour that there are a lot of dangerous critters lurking ON the streets of Los Angeles as well........

 

[sam]

Very creative, Andrew! Nicely designed and beautifully executed. Bravo!

 

[pilkguns]

Superior design, superior execution

 

[Mike Cirelli]

Really good job Andrew. That's a lot of sculpting. The background has a wonderful even leather texture.
Mike

 

[Jon C. Dake]

As usual Andrew, incredible work. I really love the dot punch background. I can't even imagine how many hours that alone took you. Keep up the excellent work.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Thanks for all those nice comments. You guys have put a real "smile on my dial" for the day.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Jim-Iowa]

Reckon the only thing left to say is WOW!

 

[KSnyder]

Nice kitty!
Kent

 

[TallGary]

Beautiful work Andrew. I like the flow and the Celtic style. Did you use a beading tool to put in the background? Any special preparation before beading?

 

[JJ Roberts]

Andrew......Very creative design, and nicely executed. I met a young man from New Zealand at the gun show in Baltimore, MD. I showed him the casting you sent me..he was very impressed. Keep up the good work.

Yours truly,
JJ Roberts
School of Artistic Engraving
Manassas, VA

www.angelfire.com/va2/engraver

 

[Marcus Hunt]

The cougar looks great Andrew. You've obviously been working very hard at developing your own style, well done. One thing that strikes me though (and this could be really important if it's going on an actual rifle), are you sure it's the right way up? I could be wrong here and if I am forgive me, but every mag plate that I've ever engraved has tappered towards the muzzle of the rifle and has it's release catch next to the trigger guard. This one appears to be the other way around so that the widest part of the plate would be furthest away from the guard. As I say, I could be wrong and this could be for a kind of rifle that I haven't seen before. Even so, it's always wise to double check we have got our work piece the right way around before we start as mistakes do happen.