Learning Metal Engraving: Week 1
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Where else should I write about this if not on my own website? After a break of many months, I have returned to learning hand engraving.
It has now been exactly a year since my trip to St. Petersburg, where I took a course in using GRS pneumatic engraving tools. It was an incredibly exciting and productive week. I came home both inspired and somewhat daunted: inspired by the remarkable skill of the school’s instructors, and daunted by the amount of equipment I would need either to replace or acquire.
I am still searching for my ideal setup. I liked the GRS system, but it is expensive, and I am slightly alarmed by the compressor constantly switching on above my head. Yes, the compressor in my workshop sits on a shelf just below the ceiling, directly above my workbench. How do you like that for a setup?
There is also a Russian-made option: Peresedov’s version of the Valtman system, which is what I currently use. I am happy with it in every respect except one: compared with the GRS system, I find the foot pedal rather difficult to control. The GRS pedal seems to respond more smoothly, making it easier to find exactly the right amount of pressure. I do not know how to explain it more precisely—sorry. 🙂
Then there is the PulseGraver, which Roman Butin also uses. It does not require a compressor at all. It seems almost ideal, but it is expensive too, so for now I can only gaze wistfully in its direction. It is sold only in the US. I am not opposed to compressors in principle; I would simply prefer a system that could run with a less demanding compressor setup. I am also looking at Roman Donchenko’s equipment. Naturally, none of these options is cheap, so I need to keep saving my pennies.
Meanwhile, I am working with what I have. To begin with, I went back through the videos I bought last year—the ones by Sam Alfano—which came with PDFs containing designs for practice plates. I found a few more on forums, and asked AI to generate some additional designs in vector format. Altogether, I now have quite an impressive collection.
And then, of course, there is the simple matter of practicing straight lines. What could be easier? Incidentally, it is recommended that you spend 50–100 hours on straight lines alone. In my previous post, I mentioned spending 76 hours on the embroidery, and that comparison really made me stop and think. Fifty to one hundred hours is a huge amount of time!
Anyway, I bought some more brass and cut it into plates. I have already completed several of them, using a 130° graver.
In the photo above, I had just tried sharpening a new graver that morning, while reminding myself which bit needed to be tilted where. 🙂 I have also started gathering all my notes from the course, videos, forums, and books I have read. I think I need to bring everything together in a single notebook somehow, although I have not yet decided exactly how.
I never managed to cut the scroll on the plate because I ran out of time. Altogether, I spent around five hours practicing this week, doing a little at a time before work. I have no particular expectations at this stage. I understand that learning a new skill from scratch is difficult, but even the smallest amount of progress makes me very happy.
At the course, I was enormously impressed by the practice plates with laser-engraved designs—the lines were incredibly fine and precise. I do not have the necessary equipment for that, so I simply transfer my designs with acetone. Unfortunately, I have already damaged some of the grid markings on my cutting mat.
Next week, I plan to resume my daily sketches of scrollwork and my study of ornament, which I was doing while staying at the country house. I also need to keep practicing my sharpening—it seems to be going fairly well.
