By way of introduction...

[bloomerj]

I would like to take a moment to introduce myself to this community which I have found to be invaluable in be efforts to enter into the art of engraving. I've been intrigued and impressed with engraving since I can remember, and I've been building up to taking the plunge. I've read Meeks and Hartliep, and spent countless hours combing through this forum as well as others.
I am looking forward to learning more as I go on, and hopefully I will be able to contribute to this community in some meaningful way.

[Ddbltrbl]

Welcome bloomerj!
Lots of learnin going on here!

[Roger Bleile]

bloomerj,

:welcome[1]:

You are in the right place to learn. You have a great advantage over many who come here to learn engraving and that is your age. You are old enough to be a good learner but young enough to have the years ahead of you to master the art and take it to any level your degree of dedication will provide.

May I suggest a good beginning is to learn the terms and jargon that we use in the trade. To do this click on the web link under my signature or click on the word Glossary in red at the top of this page. Once in the glossary you will find over 400 pictures that go with the definitions.

Good luck,

CRB

[bloomerj]

Roger, I have read through the glossary and appreciate the pointer there. I've also been reading through several posts and finding that perhaps I've been ambitious in my expectations of hand pushed cuts. So, I'm resolved to practice what were called "fine cut scrolls" until I can get consistent with those.

In the meantime, I've been tried a couple practice plates, one was the practice plate from "Let's cut a plate together" the other is a face "grotesque" that I've liked for some time. I tried to keep with the "If you can't draw it don't cut it" mantra so I redrew both with an Iwata .1 marking pen. Here are some before and afters.

I welcome, even solicit any pointers, feedback or guidance.

FLAME ON; I have pretty thick skin, so don't worry about hurting my feelings. I know there are several slips (I'm still working those out) and the shading is horrible. I have a really hard time seeing and discerning the shading. I'm using a #5 optivisor and I feel like it's not enough for shading... any pointers on that would be MOST appreciated.

Thanks again for looking and thanks in advance for any pointers.