Hi everone,is hand engraving a dying art ? Are their schools that teach the old way by hand engraving ?I know their are computerised engraving machines used to mass produce items,but I was wondering if Security type of hand engraving is still taught,no I'm not thinking of counterfeiting even if I was capable !
Connor1.. you can find engraving classes online...Gunsmiths are still some of the best hand engravers existing today...I have often thought of it but it will take some serious dedication. Look for engraver forums.. I visit them here and there and watch some online demos..Here's the link... http://www.engravingforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2 RickieB
Bookmarked that Link ,just watch a guy engrave a Zippy lighter !What talent I guess hand engraving is here to stay !
Engraving is far from a dead art. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing even has an apprentice program in Washington DC, which I believe takes a minimum of two years to seven to complete. They occassionally post openings to recruit new talent for working with designs engraved on steel plates for US currency to this day. There is also philatelic (stamps) and sigillography (seals) design engravers yet in demand in this modern world. Many Fine Arts programs throughout the US and around the world still offer majors in terminal degrees of Printmaking. They teach the fundamentals of copper, steel, zinc plate engraving, intaglio (etching), photo, plate and stone lithography, seriography (silkscreen), wood/lino relief print techniques and everything in between, from paper making, book binding, mixing techniques, using tools, acids, chemicals, etc. You name it. There are art schools and there are schools of the art that teach these techniques, mainly found in the Fine Arts departments these days, some are more conceptual/art related while others are more commercial/technical in skills taught. There are presses across the globe that specialize within techniques and master printers still work with artists to develop editions, printed books and unique creations applying seriously high levels of skilled printmaking craft. The above is all apart from mentioning type high printing and tradtional typeset which in some programs is taught separately in the commercial art and that of graphic design education. I have attached a Word doc that I kept from the last opening at the BEP I came across back in 2006 for a [FONT="]'Picture Engraver (Banknote) Apprentice' to give you some idea of what they look for in a candidate.[/FONT]
a member on this forum, billzach, is into engraving as well as his famous hobo nickles. Along with the link RickieB provided, maybe contact billzach for a link to the engraving sites he belongs to. As mentioned, hand engraving is far from dead. I agree that i dont think it is as widely used as it used to be for engraving mass produced coins ect, but it is still out there.
Engraving has many applications, here it is being referenced to designs incised on decorative weaponry and engraved printing plates, which are incised lines on steel plates, that hold ink for transferring a design to paper in the printing of currency. Both are applications of traditional engraving. Western engraving for the purposes of printing dates back to the European middle ages and to the armorsmith, who created decorated designs incised on decorative armor and early weapons. This is the kind of ornate armor which you can see in museum collections of medieval armament. Engraving for printing grew out of artisans who had a background or lineage in the guilds that worked armor. Coin designs however are technically not 'engraved'. Coin designs are conceived in illustration and then sculpted in bas-relief (low relief) on larger scale plaster or composite discs. These then are transferred in various processes to other more sturdy mould-to-die making materials, beginning with softer rubber or silicone and on towards steel using a pantograph that reproduces a coin design and also reduces the design accurately down to the scale of a coin. Throughout this process the design is attended to, and from these large steel designs, further reduction of the design takes place in the creation of coining dies. Here's a general photographic and descriptive overview of the initial process of sculpting the design and transfer to die stages. While some of the tools (burins, burnishers, oils, work set-up) and techniques of the engraver are put to use by a 'hobo-coin' artist, essentially what they are doing is sculptural. You will often see the term 'carved' as it refers to the cuts and reworking of the metal into new sculpted forms in the manipulation of the material. A hobo-coin has a surface that is not flat nor solely composed of incised (engraved) lines for printing. To some degree the incised lines of a hobo piece might be closer to scrimshaw, those designs engraved or incised into metal, wood or more commonly bone, that are filled with ink or soot and wiped from the surface allowing the lines to remain filled to reveal a design.
Great information Krispy, I would just like to try It but as you have explained their are many different types of engraving ,when you think of the Security engravers of the 19th century making those plates for the notes we all love & doing it backwards WOW were they under paid @ the BEP. That word doc from the bep you posted before was from 2006,were you considering a career @ the BEP ?
The ANA had an engraving class as part of their Summer Seminar this past year where the final project was an intaglio plate that they printed on a spider press. I don't know if they willbe having the class next year.
I have been hand engraving for about 14 years, I started with a concrete nail made into a hand graver, a $1 small hammer and a magniflier out of a old movie projector..I later upgraded to better tools, about 8 years ago I completed my first engraving school which took in gun, knife, etc. engraving..I now have a fully equipped engraving shop that allows me to engrave almost anything..I,m getting ready to take a class on bulino and banknote engraving...How long does it take to learn engraving??..I have been engraving 40 to 50 hours a week for 14 years and I,m still learning..I can,t draw a circle or a straight line or a subject,s face with a pencil, but give me a hand push graver and I can make things come alive..
Engraving is something that I have allways wished I coud do but alas it was not too be LOL, I not only collect banknotes but postage stamps as well and some of the work that went into them Have a look at some of the stamps that came out of Czeckoslovakia. Work by Karel Seizinger or Bohdan Roule :smile
Engraver or a vocation ? Bill ,starting with a concrete nail ! Amazing what the human mind can dream of when you really want to do something and devote all your focus on a goal.From your story I realize that engravers are people driven not by money but a passion to create by hand a picture in their mind or of a painting they have seen and with these hand tools like a brush to a painter's canvas, create on steel a vignette. I would love to see some of your work,to aspire to be a plate engraver must be quite an accomplishment and you will do it obviously because you are an artist ,an engraver,an a man driven by his love of his craft. Good Luck & keep on engraving,that bank note is in your mind now but will work its way to steel through your talented hands. If passable share a few images with our group of engraver lovers here. We would be honored to have you as a member of our group " Security Engraving Vignettes".
