tell me about bulino, please

[KatherinePlumer]

Hey everyone. So I've been experimenting a bit with some engraving, and trust me you won't see me post anything for quite a while... I am completely fascinated by bulino engraving and would very much like to understand it better. Could anyone help me out with this?

Technique: I expected little chips of steel to go flinging about the room when I try this, but that doesn't happen, it's more like it just raises a little burr. Am I really supposed to be popping out a little piece? Or is it just a burr? Do you then somehow remove the burr?

Inking or not inking? I can't really wrap my brain around this one. How is light and dark created simply by the way the cuts are made? Depth? Direction? I read somewhere that light areas are dotted too, but then would they not catch ink? Would an inked and un-inked image be done in completely different ways?

Thanks to anyone willing to share a little knowledge.

-Katherine

 

[Marcus Hunt]

Katherine, you should definitely try and release the bur. If not, as the piece wears you'll have thousands of little bright spots. Also bear in mind that the term bulino really applies to the graver so bulino can be cut with lines as well as dots. If you can try and get a place on Chris DeCamillis' bulino class, I can thoroughly recommend it.

 

[Joe Mason]

Taking a class is a good ideal. You should also get some casting to study. Check out the FEGA site.

Joe

 

[Mike Bissell]

Katherine - FEGA offers a DVD of a seminar on "Bulino Techniques, featuring Chris DeCamillis". The product code is D31. This may give you a better understanding of bulino, but as Marcus suggested, a class given by Chris would be the best way to learn.

Mike

 

[KCSteve]

Katherine

While I can't tell you much about Bulino, I have been paying attention to those that do know and I have some information on the inking question.

Some is inked but a lot of it isn't. Inking can give you an image that's easier to see - sometimes the really fine bulino is hard to see from all angles. Light - dark is done just like in pen & ink drawing (or scrimshaw) - the closer your very fine lines are the darker the area.

The preference for about a 70 degree tip for bulino is because a nice, narrow line with very smooth edges will look less bright than one that's wider or has rougher edges. With a smooth, narrow line the light gets trapped down in the cut, just bouncing back and forth from side to side. With a wider or rougher cut more of the light can bounce up out of the cut to the viewer's eye. Try it yourself - cut a series of simple lines with something wider than a 90, a 90, and a 70. You'll see that the lines look darker as they get thinner.

I'm slowly learning to make the right kind of cuts for fine bulino but it'll be quite a while until I have the artistic skills to do it right. That's ok - for now I can at least make things look rounded and other simple tricks.

BTW, as far as I can tell, if you learn to do 'dot' cuts you can pretty much directly transfer your scrimshaw abilities over to engraving.

Looking forward to reading this thread for all the good info!

 

[Ron Smith]

Katherine,

Bulino is sort of a change in attitude (but not so much for a scrimshander maybe). You have to put time in a bottle and not worry about it too much, as the tones that you create are done by textures and the stacking of lines to create them, requiring time requirements that you might not be used to. The closer the ines are together, the darker the tone. The more crisscrossing at slight angles and over each other inhances a dark tone and makes it darker. On scrimshaw, you get tones with colors. On metal, you have to increase the lines and dots.

A profusion of lines creates dark tones. A minimum of lines causes light tones. Dots are capable of creating very subtle tones. Lines are harsher, but placed very close together and criss-crossing them at different angles is the way to acheive almost black, but would require ink to produce true black. A good engraving done properly should not have to have ink to produce the tonal values that will make your subjects intense and well defined. That is done with the textures you create rather than ink.

True bulino style sort of refers more to banknote engraving, but for steel and firearm decoration these techniques are usually very faint. Banknote engraving was designed to print from using ink that gives the engraving (print) intensity. On steel, you have to use many more lines to get the same intensity without ink. If you must use ink for your work to show up, I would say you need to work on your knowledge of textures and how to create them. Ink enhances engraving slightly and does the most good on poorly textured work, whereas ink tends to cheapen a good engraving except for photo purposes.

You can use several techniques. The dot method, cross hatching, and thickness of line can be used to make different tones.

Taking a class would give you some valuable jewels of bulino techniques and get you started right. Not only that, you get other little priceless jewels of knowledge just by being in that environment.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

Good luck!

Ron S

 

[Tom Curran]

Do I understand that Bulino can be lines? I was under the impression that it was only dots, until I saw Marcus make mention of 'lines' above.

 

[FANCYGUN]

Engraving images is a combination of various lines and dots which are really short itty bitty lines. Kathrine with your scrimming style and visions you should do just fine onece you tweek your style or proceedures towards doing what you do best on metal. It's much more than lines but being able to see ahead as you work and you are very capable of doing this. Attached, if it comes through is a face on a Sharps I just finished that is done with mostly lines of one sort or another.

Marty

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

Katherine Here are some more samp;es. I use almost all lines with some dots here and there I Use more little dashes rather than dots. Rons comments to you are right on. Sandra Brady who is a scrimshander took the bulino class you might want to contact her for comments from a fellow scrimmher. I would love to have you in a class with your talent you would get a lot out of it. Hope all this helps. Marty very nice job on that Indian. I would like to one day do a gun with all Indian chiefs on it. Chris

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

I forgot to mention that the color in these engraving have no paint or ink at all only oil is rubbed in to bring out the color. Chris

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Katherine

I don't think you'll have any problems adapting to the fine bulino work. Your work is beautiful and you have some great ideas that would be great on metal. You have that fine eye and pateince for detail.

Marty and Chris...............stunning work as always!!!

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Tim Herman]

Chris, amazing! I wish I could afford your bulino class someday.

 

[Mack]

I think I am starting to see what you guys mean about this. When I was learning to draw pencil portraits the hardest thing I had to learn was that you do not "draw" anything. it is only areas of shading and light with the depth being done by subtle darkening. A very very light outline is made and then the shading is put in until the picture is done but there is no sketching or line making at all. Eccept for the hair. Mack

 

[FANCYGUN]

That's not quite true Mack. You did a wonderful drawing with a lot of character. It looks to me like you used either a soft pencil or charcoal and smudged the shading in the faces to give it a soft round look. This is one style and done correctly it has good results. However you can draw also with scribbles and even very defined lines. The character is different for each one and it is correct. It is true that when I work I do go after the shades to create my image and I know that Chris does also. However the approach we both take is entirely diffent in style of lines and how we totally develope an image. We have different goals and theorys which are both correct. I am not trying to recreate a photograph on my pieces. I don't try to hide the lines or dots in the work I like showing them as I think it gives the piece very subtle character. Now this is just my style and evryone has their own just like handwriting.
Confusing huh

Marty

 

[bucketosudz]

Pencil Artist Mainly

Another individual Paul Calle, one of my favorites in fact, is notorious for finite lines making up shaded areas. If you can look at some of his work up close, you will find that much of it is really no different than engraving, bulino, scrimshaw may be done with pencil or pen. The minute changes in direction dizzy me in looking at Paul's work. He is a fantastic pencil artist in my opinion.
Lee

 

[Roger Bleile]

I would like to point out something here that is sometimes missed in discussions of bulino technique. Have you ever seen an actual gun or knife that was engraved in the bulino technique? You can look at pictures of bulino engravings all day and not understand the essence of it until you actually see it in person. We experienced engravers often assume that the people asking these questions have seen a bulino engraved piece when they have not. Also keep in mind that many of the bulino scenes that you see published have been photoshopped so that some areas of a scene or figure look pure white like the paper the book or magazine was printed on. You can not achieve pure white on a piece of steel by engraving.

My point here is that if you are going to take the time and effort to work on bulino scenes and figures you need to find a way to examine the real thing if you wish to achieve the desired effect. You can do this by going to GRS or Ray Cover's school or by going to a high end gun or knife show or best of all the FEGA and Safari Club conventions. With all of the great advice here, once you see the real thing your eyes will be wide open.

To illustrate my point, about thirty years ago, my brother and I were at the Las Vegas International Gun Show when someone asked if we had seen the Galazzi engraved shotguns there. We had been admiring Galazzi's work in the first Italian engraving book and were hoping to see some of his work at the show. We had been through the entire show and hadn't seen any. This fellow took us to the table with the Galazzi guns. We had been past this table already and all we saw the first time were 2 sidelock shotguns with polished sideplates and no engraving. Once we were able to examine the guns and twist and turn them in the light the bulino scenes became apparent. A few years later I was able to examine an extensive collection of Italian, bulino engraved guns for several hours. I spent the whole time wearing an optivisor twisting and turning the guns in the light to see the engraving that looked entirely different in those Italian books.

All bulino engraving is not like what I just described. Chris, Marty, my brother and others use techniques that allow good visual impact at a glance. But it still should be seen to be appreciated.

My comments here are not directed at any one person since I don't know who has seen actual bulino work and who hasn't but I'm sure there are many viewing the Cafe' who have only seen pictures of bulino.

CRB

 

[Mack]

I for one have never seen it in person.
That artist work is entirely different than mine but absolutely amazing.!
Actually I guess I really have no Idea how it is done. Mack

 

[FANCYGUN]

Roger
You raise some very good points about seeing things in person. Might I add that scale is important also. When we look at something in a book or here on our computer screens we actually have no real idea as to how a piece really does look. When we engrave our lines and dots in combinations we are trying to get a certain effect for a particular size. For instance the indian i posted earlier in the thread is actually 7/8" x 1 1/2". It shows up larger on my computer screen then it actually is and you can sort of see the lines in a distorted view due to upscaling. When you look at something in the flesh you are able to see the illusions that are created with the lines the way they were meant to be.
So by all means..try to look at fine engraving first hand so you can understand the flair of the artist. FEGA castings are another great way to do this in the comfort of your own studio.

Marty

 

[KatherinePlumer]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I think it brings up just as many more questions.

I'll definitely look into that DVD, thanks for the info! I would love to take a class, but it's not a possibility right at the moment.

Inking versus not inking: Okay, so am I correct in understanding that a properly created bulino image does not NEED to be inked? (a strange concept for a scrimshander). Are they generally inked when photographed? In pics I've seen, like the ones posted here (THANK YOU to Marty and Chris!!!) the image shows up so nice and crisp, black on a light background. But if you aren't looking at these images under good lighting, or they aren't photographed reflecting a white background, do you kinda lose the image? I am genuinely curious, if inking/blackening the engraving allows it to be seen from all angles, why is that not always done?

I have seen bulino work "in person" though have not had a lot of opportunity to examine it up close or under magnification. I've handled my own etched printing plates and can appreciate the similarity there, where if you turn it just so you see all the detail of the image but if you turn it just a little more it goes flat.

Chris- if you don't mind my asking what kind of oil do you use on the image?

Lines versus dots- I don't have any question about when to use either one, I'd just do whatever I'd do when drawing (in other words, "it depends what the subject is" in terms of texture etc), but I'm curious if there is a preference (among engravers or among collectors) for one technique over the other, or is it generally a combination of the two?

Is there a difference in the way that you hold the tool depending whether you are doing lines or dots? And for that matter are you using the same tool for everything? I find myself wanting to put the graver in a more upright position for dots (a la scrimshaw), but that might be wrong, I dunno...

I think that's all my questions for the moment, thank you all so much for being willing to share information. I'm going to give it a try. I'll be pounding my head against the wall for quite a while trying to cut scrolls, so this sounds way more fun.

-Katherine

 

[FANCYGUN]

Kathrine
I like to ink mine in so it can be seen better. What i did post was a scan of a plastic casting from my Sharps. They seem to show up really well on the computor and easier than setting up lights etc for a photo before the gun is finished. And the casting is inked in to give it contrast. I use oil based etching ink for this. I know other like to use black enamel paint.
One point a client made years ago with this type of engraving.he liked the deeper style as opposed to very fine barely able to be seen style because when you get to be a certain age where you can afford this work.your eyesight is failing so you can't see it as well and he wanted to be able to enjoy what he was paying for.