{"id":4361,"date":"2026-09-25T14:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T11:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/?p=4361"},"modified":"2026-09-25T14:22:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T11:22:24","slug":"learning-metal-engraving-week-2-even-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/2026\/09\/learning-metal-engraving-week-2-even-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning Metal Engraving: Week 2, even 3."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Time is flying by. I\u2019m still working on the panels for the screen, but I\u2019ll write about that separately. I\u2019ve been engraving much more often, though. My original plan was two sessions a week, but that has now become at least four. So I\u2019m spending around an hour a day engraving, apart from weekends. Here\u2019s a small selection of what I\u2019ve managed to do.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\"2026-09-18<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\"2026-09-18<\/a>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The leaf designs are from Sam Alfano\u2019s course. I bought his videos a while ago, and they came with several PDFs. The circles are from there too. I bought some more brass and cut it into 50 \u00d7 50 mm plates. And they\u2019re awkward to work with! The plates we used in class were 30 mm across, and I made 40 mm ones at home, but 50 mm feels so far removed from miniature work that I\u2019m completely out of my comfort zone. I can\u2019t explain why. Anyway, I ended up cutting some of the plates in half, giving me 25 mm-wide pieces, which turned out to be just right for me.<\/p>\n

The pattern on the plate with the vertical lines and notches is one I stole from class. The trick is to make those notches very neatly, hitting the exact center of the groove without touching the opposite wall. I wrestled with this for several days and, by the end of the second week, I think I\u2019d found a little bit of zen. By the third week, I was getting it right much more often. Plain straight lines are still torture for me, but I\u2019ve made my peace with that. Sometimes I think the problem is the pedal rather than me: the speed occasionally jumps quite abruptly, and I\u2019ve been struggling with that for months now. I still don\u2019t know how to solve it, so I\u2019m training my foot to handle those transitions more sensitively.<\/p>\n

My circles are getting a little better. For now, I\u2019m aiming for 50 hours of practice in total before drawing any conclusions. I dread the thought that any of this might be a waste of time. Surely it will help with my woodcarving too\u2026 it will, won\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

A useful addition to my practice: I\u2019ve started a separate notebook just for engraving. Previously, I only had a sketchbook and a general work notebook. I realized I needed to bring everything together in one place. Putting it together will give me some extra practice and a chance to revisit the theory.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also trying to draw more often again. I\u2019ll have to show you some sketches at some point, just to prove I\u2019m not making it all up. For now, I\u2019m drawing a bit of everything: exercises, sketches from life, ornamental designs, and furniture. I\u2019m muddling along to keep moving and keep my spirits up.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see what next week brings. I want to make some new practice plates. I\u2019ve already worked through the ones I have several times, and I\u2019m ready for something new.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time is flying by. I\u2019m still working on the panels for the screen, but I\u2019ll write about that separately. I\u2019ve been engraving much more often, though. My original plan was two sessions a week, but that has now become at least four. So I\u2019m spending around an hour a day engraving, apart from weekends. Here\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_popup_image":0,"_vp_format_audio_url":"","_vp_album_images":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail":0,"_vp_custom_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail_cover":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[639],"tags":[516],"class_list":["post-4361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-639","tag-details"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4362,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions\/4362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victoriamorozovaminiatures.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}