DragonDie3Copper1.810"/47mm



Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2016 01:25PM by barnespneumatic.

Wow Gary, beautiful piece. It's incredible the amount of details on this dragon. Congratulations for a job well done!

Thank you my Friend!

I enjoy doing the carving. I'm so glad you enjoy it with me.

Gary

Nice work!! The darker tones really make it appear to be jumping out at you! Will it still get the patina copper gets with age or does the dark finish prevent that? Anyways looks good.
Matt

Hello Matt,

Thank You! I'm glad you appreciate the work. I will find as many ways as possible to use the die.

The darkening is an oxidation process. There is nothing applied. It is the careful creation of Copper Oxide. It should stay much like that. This is really the end of where copper can go for darkness. The highlights will stay with the simple application of a chamois or cotton glove.

Gary

Always liked how copper can achieve many different tones... Lots of carving for that die you've got some steady hands! I'm sure it will get some good use!

Kurt, good eye I missed the Barnes signature, it blends well with the dragon!


very nice work,
Matt

Gary
That looks great ! I see quite a difference from the first one . Like Matt said it jumps out at YA !
I think I see a signature in this one too !
Thanks

Thanks
Kurt

Hah!!!!

I wondered if anyone would note the Signature.

It's my Stylized BARNES that I've used for a number of years. I think that you, Kurt, have said that you like the script and font. Kurt - those letters are 20-25 THOU. tall. Carved backwards - 1 to 1 ratio. Meaning - I just set out with no mechanical advantage, and with only muscular control - carved the letters as a mirror image - INTO HARDENED TOOL STEEI!!!. I was pleased. Yes - it's under a magnifying glass, but - I have to control the tool by hand.

To get this picture of it, I had to use the macro lens, thru a shop magnifying glass, laid atop my bench magnifying glass, and THEN use the digital picture manipulation to sharpen it!!! That is SMALL!!! haha

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2016 11:35PM by barnespneumatic.

Truly beautiful Gary!
Jeff

Thanks Jeff! So glad you like it. Sure hope you are doing better. You have had my thoughts and prayers.

Gary

Check out my boxes later too !

Gary
I saw the eyelashes and goatee looked way meaner in the second dragon medallion . It's kinda weird but he looked Waaaay different to me than the first one . I'm not sure why I needed to compare them to each other , the first one is amazing but the color change is great !
Thanks again .

Thanks
Kurt

Hi Kurt,

I have an entire thread on the Die Saga.

Hey .... No comment on the 20 thou. Pic of the signature???? Huhhhh!!!

Here ya go Kurt. This was before I darkened the new coin on the right.

If you want to compare.

Copying a piece of art is very difficult. The smallest detail makes the biggest change. The strokes are never identical. Inspiration can't be repeated.

I'll get back to the topic.

Now - don't talk everyone into living the one from the broken die - please.

Gary

Truly incredible!!

Gary uses one of those steam punk magnifying glass on top of magnifying glass contraptions on top of a head mounted nutty professor style magnifying goggles to see what he's doing. The vertigo inducing magnification is superceeded only by the cocktail of neuro stabilizers to keep his hands steady like one of those robotic assist brain surgeons. Just saying

Really nice work Gary! The first Dragon is definitely meaner looking lol!

Hi Sal,

Great Word Painting you crafted Sal.

Gary

Hi Guys,

I'm very glad you have commented. I appreciate it.

The manner in which I create a tool steel die, is raw art. It's not the result of a program. Sometimes explaining "what it's not" is more descriptive. It's not engraved via a CNC milling head, driven by computer. It's not engraved via mechanical reduction by a Pantograph Mill. It's not copied/reduced from a master pattern ten, twenty, or thirty times oversized.

I sit at the bench, and with pencil and Sharpie; I draw the pattern to be engraved. I then cut the lines I've drawn - 1 to 1 ratio, with a series in hand guided tools. Rotary tools and linear stroke tool bits. Guided solely by my eye and hand coordination.

Because of my technique, there's a personality imparted to each carving. It's going to be different with each session. Even stopping in the middle of a pass (I call going over the entire die once, a "pass". It might be using a particular tool bit everywhere that type of cut is needed on the entire design. It might be removing the entire background from a relief design. It might be hunting down "hot spots" that might catch my eye. But it's an entire "pass" over the entire design). If I must stop in the middle of a "Pass", when I return to a pass in progress, I'll sence I'm approaching it slightly different. If I look at what I did before and what I did after I returned, I notice a difference. Nobody else may see it, but I do. So; I try to do complete passes.

With that in mind .... "Copying" a die or engraving is very difficult. And, for this reason, I don't panic over "copying" engraving patterns from one side of a knife to the other, for example. I sketch the basic proportions, and basic inner relationship of the scrolls, and then I fill in and develop the engraving as a fresh design - and loose the risk of making a flat "copy".

In this instance, I loved the first engraving, and would have liked to copy it directly, but I had to just use it as a reference, and draw guidelines from it, and yet still develope the carving as a stand alone work. Copying just never works for me. I'm hard wired against it.

Hope you like the new one. Or at least tell me you do. Haha. It has twice the effort in it as the first. And, BTW, the new one is the 3rd one. I was finally satisfied with this cut. Yes, it's a brother or sister of the first, but Kurt and Sal saw it 180 degrees out from each other. One thought the first looked a bit more mean. One thought the second did. The second has a slightly longer nose - as do most dragons you see in real life.

Gary

Gary



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/02/2016 03:24PM by barnespneumatic.

Gary
I am impressed with the size of the signature .020 is pretty micro . But the backwards writing has to be really hard too .
Sal does have a great colorful description of the process . I can feel the cramping in my hands and arms just thinking about it . I imagine you have a electric & pneumatic rotary tools that you use but just holding it and the bent position has to be taxing .

I never thought about the " passes " process but it makes complete sense . Are you at all ambidextrous ? I know a couple of guys , my son included who are comfortable with either hand . I can't even brush my teeth left handed ! Haha Anyways thanks a bunch .

Thanks
Kurt

Haha. Sorry, couldn't resist. Having coffee.

Thank you Kurt. It is enjoyable.

I'm ambidextrous to a point. I could do some rough passes carving. Remove background, etc. I have maybe 60-70% of the right hand.

It's really neat Kurt - on the signature, I "Sence" as much as "see" the cut. It wasn't til I rigged the multiple mag. Glasses that I saw that the font turned out very close to what I use for my "shop signature".

Thanks for commenting Kurt!

Gary

Once again Gary, that is fabulous work.
Thanks for sharing,
Jeff

Beautiful as always!

Scott