Engraving

Sung closely examines William Blake’s extant engraved copper plates and arrives at a new interpretation of his working process. Sung suggests that Blake revised and corrected his work more than was previously thought. This belies the Romantic ideal that the acts of conception and execution are simultaneous in the creative process.

The Techniques of Glass Engraving by Peter Dreiser and the late Jonathan Matcham is a classic, unique in its field. Considered the doyen of British glass engravers, Peter Dreiser has fully updated the text for this second edition with Katharine Coleman, one of the leading contemporary glass artists of today. It is now 4-colour throughout with superb new images illustrating the work of a new generation of contemporary glass engravers. The many techniques covered include copper wheel engraving, synthetic wheel engraving, cut glass, brilliant cutting, diamond point, drill engraving, glass etching and sandblasting. This book is one of the very few on the practical aspects of this craft, of interest to student and the interested public alike. Comprehensive information, examples and exercises for the student are all accompanied with clear photographs, of work in progress and the finished item.

" From the artist whom Nicholas Basbanes calls "the most important book illustrator working in America today" comes a primer on the art of wood engraving, a pursuit which one can "learn" in less than an hour but which one can master only through years of persistence, dedication, and indefatigable energy. Learning to engrave a block, says Barry Moser, is like learning to play the piano: it is all practice, practice, practice, all teaching the muscles how to perform the basics. At first your every gesture will be halting, labored, and self-conscious; then at last will come the moment when, like Ashkenazy at the keyboard, you can forget about "process," about "technique," and focus all your mental energy on making art. "There are no shortcuts," warns Moser. "Mastery comes only with time, work, and repetition. A great number of bad wood engravings must be made before one can expect to make a good one. Once your muscles know how to do their work, once they know how to carve thin white lines into boxwood, your mind will be free to invent." There is a lifetime of knowledge in this book: how to prepare a printing block; how to think in the medium's properties of line, shape, and ink; how to transfer a drawing onto a block. There is advice, too, on tools: not only on gravers (burins, scorpers, stipplers, and spitzstickers) but also on lights (you'll need a good strong one) and engraving bags (the leather pillows that cradle the blocks as you carve). Here is how to ink, how to choose paper, and how to print. Here is how to fail, how to move on, and how to acquire the habit of work that leads to real achievement. Wood Engraving is an art lesson and a life lesson. And because it's a book by Barry Moser, it is also a gallery of prints and beautiful to behold."--Publisher's website.

"Engraving on Precious Metals" is for professionals and others who wish to learn hand engraving as a hobby or trade, and reveals many previously undisclosed practices of the commercial engraver which help to make his skill quite astonishing. All aspects of the craft are covered exhaustively, including the relatively modern innovation of the high-class machine engraver. This machine is particularly useful for repeat monograms and designs which are afterwards filled, because the template that guides the machine can be cut by hand. Illustrated throughout with over 250 drawings, the book gives practical hints for use in the workshop, while artistic matters are covered extensively in chapters on lettering design and layout, monograms, nameplates and ornamentation. A basic knowledge of ancillary crafts can be found in the sections on piercing, polishing, soldering and inlaying, and the use of unusual materials such as ivory, wood or plastic is also discussed. The final chapter contains a wide selection of different styles of lettering which are numbered for easy reference, and can be used by the retailer to indicate styles to customers and engravers