The concept explores the generation raised on smart devices: out of an average 80-year lifespan, 32 of those years will be consumed entirely by screen time. Hence the title "Decades".

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Set of wood framed mirrors with barn quilt inspired engraving patterns

Tried my hand at engraving some local mountains on this zippo as a birthday gift. It was a lot of fun and I think I’ll try making one for myself too. Added the recipient’s initials on the back too.

Any suggestions on getting cleaner lines next time, or general tips? Is there a good way to smooth them out now (perhaps go over with a larger or smaller bit?)?

I understand that push engraving is better for metal but since I wanted a rotary tool for a very different project I figured I’d start here. Would love to try it down the road though.

Thank you in advance!

Can anyone tell me where I can buy full size ( only thing I know to call them) 3/4 mushroom handles for push gravers.

All I have found is on ebay and Amazon, those are very small. Any help appreciated

Recently got a lindsay classic and have been playing around with practice pieces, this is my first proper project. Kept it as basic as possible to try to ensure success. Im pretty happy with the results. Looking forward to escalating my ambitions on the next projects. Feedback welcome, I'm a true beginner and am looking to improve, you won't hurt my feelings

Engraving would be a fine touch for the quality of project.

I work for an firearm engraving company that specializes in limited edition series for collectors. The workload has increased a lot in the 6 months I've been there, so I wanted to ask for some pointers. I feel like my work is good but could be better and could be done faster, so I'd like to know what programs are best for designs and how to streamline work for quick turnarounds. I'd also like to know about depth mapping and/or layering.

I currently do the majority of design work in Adobe Illustrator and export with either SVG or PNG. We engrave with Lightburn on fiber lasers. I only make the designs, I do not run the engravers, but if there are techniques or practices that can be done on both ends, I'm happy to hear it.

Most designs have a mix of imagery and scrollwork.

I've included a few examples of work I have done.

I'd appreciate any help or advice.

Hi everyone. My name is Reinis, and I am a hand-push copperplate engraver and printmaker, but I don't want to talk about my own work today. Instead, I wanted to discuss a topic about old engravings.

Oftentimes I get asked how my works are made, or how engravers in the past managed to cut such perfectly spaced, even lines. I’ve sometimes gotten into hot water talking with print historians about this. Some of them like to think that the old masters were just perfectly spontaneous, cutting these massive plates freely without any help. But I speak from my actual experience pushing a burin, and I see the marks and signs of their process all the time.

Just like with drawing, you can build up muscle memory over time. You learn to do well-executed cross-hatching just by relying on your eye and your hand. A lot of the time, that is exactly my approach too.

However, sometimes a piece needs a bit more planning. In those cases, the old engravers used curved or straight rulers, along with a drypoint needle or scribe, to lightly scratch in their guidelines first. When engraving, the drypoint guide also works as a sort of rail to guide the burin. If you look at old prints that show engravers working in their workshops, you can oftentimes see these exact tools—rulers, compasses, scribes—sitting right there on their tables.

Taking all this into consideration, it is still an incredible amount of work to make these images. While guidelines make the process easier, it is still a massive challenge to engrave these precise lines. As my friend Ezra Heller once put it well: "Engraving is the easiest printmaking technique to understand as you're basically 'drawing' a black line. However, to control the burin and make these cuts, it is one of the most challenging and technically demanding ones." It truly is one of the slowest and most laborious ways to make an image.

Now, when you look at an old engraving, try to look past the finished image and spot some of these tell-tale signs of the tools they used.

To illustrate this point, I’ve attached some images:
1. Amor en Psyche, anonymous, 1700 - 1750
2.Petrus door een engel uit de gevangenis bevrijd, Joseph Mulder (mentioned on object), 1720 - 1728
3.Zelfportret Theodorus Koning, Theodoor Koning (mentioned on object), 1825

Hope you like this post. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments!

That’s what I’d like some Shopify sellers here to help me find out.

I’m the founder of Sigmira, a product personalization tool, and we’re opening a free Shopify beta once the app clears Shopify’s review.

Customers can add text, upload photos and position elements on your product page, with a live preview. You set up the products, fonts and print sizes, and get a print-ready file with each order.

I’m particularly interested in feedback from people selling personalized engraved products. Does the editor make sense to your customers? Do the exported files fit your printing workflow? What still needs manual attention?

Exports include PNG and JPG up to 1200 DPI, plus PDF with text and vector elements preserved. The point of this beta is to test that with your actual products and workflow.

It’s free for at least four weeks, with all features available. No obligation to subscribe afterward. If you want to continue, you approve a subscription through Shopify; otherwise, uninstall and owe nothing.

We expect to start within the next few weeks, depending on Shopify’s approval. Details and signup:
https://sigmira.com/shopify-beta

There’s also a demo linked on that page if you want to try the editor before signing up.

What’s the biggest headache with personalized orders in your shop: collecting customer details, getting designs approved, or preparing the files?

Getting back into hand push engraving and getting some practice in

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In this engraving titled "Suspended", I wanted to capture an unsettling evening. People have stepped out of their cars, suspended in the not-knowing of what will happen next. Something has gone wrong.

any and all ideas welcome!

I watched some Ken C Hunt video on YT but I'm really starting from scratch and I really have trouble to make beautiful leaf shapes !

do you guys have any good ressources/practice to learn scrollwork ?

One side is finished.

The scale is titanium, with the design cut entirely by hand. The recessed background was darkened to create more depth and separation, while the details were built up with gold, silver, and copper inlay. This side took a lot of slow work because the design combines very fine line engraving, relief, and multiple metals in a fairly small area.

We’ve now started engraving the second side of the knife. It should take another 4–5 weeks to complete, and I’ll post the finished piece when both sides are done.

I’m curious what the engravers here think about the balance between the dark background and the brighter metal inlay.