Introducing myself :)

[Julia von Pfaler]

Hiya!

I've been lurking around for a couple of months and finally decided to make the first move and post something. Uh, so Hello! Name's Julia Janhunen, 24, second year college student of Arts and Crafts where I'm currently learning the awesome world of hand forging. I'm mostly interested of making small and quite arty everyday objects from stainless steel/ recycled material, but my heart belongs to the detail and I want to learn different ways to show that passion to others, if that makes any sense

Were looking for more information of scrimshaw online and happened to stumble upon to this site; apparently fell in love, because I'm unable to get the engraving out of my mind! I'm very eager to learn more of this craft and it's secrets!

I've been drooling over the air-gravers, but for the student's ever-so-empty pockets does not give me an opportunity to buy one yet, so I'm thinking of starting out with a hammer and gravers/chisels to get the feel of things. Does that sound alright? Any ideas what should I get first would be very much appreciated!

Before I fell to the plane of metals, have worked with traditional arts like drawing and painting (watercolors) and with a newly found medium, scratchboards. Will post a few of those works here,

scratchboard work of my dog, Bean:


sepia cat drawing:
http://aukea.net/photos/54844.jpg

and a watercolor pug, finished in 2006...jeeze time goes fast:
http://aukea.net/photos/54859.jpg

Hope to meet everyone soon,
Take care!
~Julia

[SEngraver]

Originally Posted by Julia.Janhunen

Hiya!


I've been drooling over the air-gravers, but for the student's ever-so-empty pockets does not give me an opportunity to buy one yet, so I'm thinking of starting out with a hammer and gravers/chisels to get the feel of things. Does that sound alright? Any ideas what should I get first would be very much appreciated!


~Julia

Hi.

Welcome to the Engraving Forum Julia.

Hammer and chisel holder ;

http://www.airgraver.com/Hand_Engrav...Graver%20Tools

Stainless Chisel that holds 3/32" square gravers for hammer/chisel engraving

A few graver blanks ,Hss and m42, V96 ,V116 ,flat and knife combo templates. the 260,600 and 1200 grit bench-stones and a chasing hammer.

http://www.airgraver.com/Hand_Engrav...s_Overview.htm

I must say all the pictures you have done are very admirable.

SE

[Julia von Pfaler]

Hey,
Thank you for the welcome and the links! Now I just need to order and then I'll be set for testing

~Julia

[SEngraver]

You are Welcome Julia.

SE

[Daniel Houwer]

Wow, your drawing skills are a mazing Julia!!!
Yould be one fine engraver.

[Julia von Pfaler]

Thank you Daniel, can't wait to get started!

I have a nine week of practical training coming ahead in about a month: sadly there's not too many of engravers running around (in Finland)- so, most likely have to get some tools, post the wip's to the forum and hopefully learn a thing or two that's my Evil plan.

~Julia

[rbaptiste]

Welcome!
Very nice work.

[dimovengraving]

Hello and welcome Julia, exclusive technique
Is seen a love of the animals

[JJ Roberts]

Julia,to the Lindsay forum,your animal anatomy is amazing tell us about your background in art. You should have no problem mastering the art of engraving.A good place to start would be with a hand graver,meaning pushing the graver through the metal by hand just think of it as your new pen.You'll find it very friendy with many talented artists sharing there useful information on the art of engraving.J.J.

[allarddesign]

Hey Julia,
Damn that is amazing work! You should have no problem learning with that skill level already under your belt. As a commercial artist myself I can say I don't see that level of talent out of two many second year students.
As to the engravers I don't think we are too saturated here in the US either, which is one of the reasons I like it. Doing the same thing as fifty thousand other artists are doing gets old fast, plus its one of those skills that harkens back to old world craftsmanship like no other. Damn machines are taking over everything as it is.
Good luck with your endeavors and keep up the fantastic artwork!
-John

[Gemsetterchris]

Welcome Julia

Jawdropping artwork!

I guess your probably studying in Lahti ? can`t think of any other similar schools in Finland.
I wonder if there are any full time engravers here?
Look forward to seeing some more of your work in the future.

You`ll find plenty of help & info here to digest.

I`m in Nokia, I also use the palmcontrol & templates plus a mountain of other tools, so feel free to contact me if you need help since i`m probably your nearest contact.

Chris Mead.

[Roger Bleile]

Julia,

Outstanding work! Your scenes and figures will easily translate into engraving however decorative motifs like scrollwork can be challenging for even skilled artists.

A very good engraver and forum member is just across the Baltic in Estonia. His screen name is Vilts (Viljo Mirandi). He is reputed to be the best engraver in Livonia!

Cheers,

Roger

[chujybear]

That rally great. Can see why you were looking at scrim

[Julia von Pfaler]

Oh wow! Thank you so much for the replies...should have added that I'm usually only able to be online during weekends, sorry for the delay!

JJ Roberts: my background in art? Well, have to say I'm not fully aware of what exactly made my drawing ability to rocket in about a year of turning 16, but been drawing ever since and still learning in spikes- 24 now, self-learned all of the techniques I tend to use. Plus trying to view and memorise as much of anatomy and different kinds of textures as possible. Have started to draw from imagination more aswell, what I've not done too often. On the downside tend to see only details and can easilly miss the complete picture; it's like seeing only trees without realizing it's a forest! So learning new things can be real slow to start with, but have learned to give some time for the new stuff to settle before taking next challenges and that seems to be working alright

Chris M: Thank you. I'm studying in Mynämäki, the school is known of it's hand forging classes and ancient technique side..real awesome place, but in the middle of nowhere I'll be digging more information from this site, once I get my hands on some tools and sure have mountainload of questions ahead, so beware :P

Thanks again everyone, 'am in a bit of a hurry right now, but surely will come back later!

Cheers,
Julia

[paulsph]

Welcome on the forum, Julia! Your drawings are great, sharp eye for detail Greetings, Paulsph

[chickenscratcher]

Julia, simply incredtable. I would love to see you at work. How long, what tools the like. Have been pushing a pencil for 60 years and your work makes me feel lazy.Wow. Also I agree that push graving is were to start. Your work is way to delicate. It is more like scrimshaw and balino........chickenscratcher

[Julia von Pfaler]

Hey!

Been a long while, but thought to come back here and say that I managed to gather some equipment to start learning the awesome world of this craft. The setup is almost ready, some minor tweaks and changes here and there but it's possible to do some small experiments already- I'm in love. Made a small test plate today, which is more like a mine field with extremely sharp things (learned not to sweep the bits off with my finger...bits were still intact but cut some skin in the process, hehe) trial and error right?

Plus, I have started to make designs of my own to engrave someday...might be still a little too difficult to get down on a metal plate :D I was wondering that if it's ok to start sort of a journal entry for the learning curve? Might be interesting..to myself and maybe to others as well

Take care,
Julia

[atexascowboy]

Think about your children and grandchildren.
Grandma did this years ago.