Dragonfly: Part 3. Getting Close

After sharpening the cutter and doing some honing in, I drop in another piece of copper to see where I am at.

It is real close, but not quite there. The segments of the dragonfly abdomen are not engraving the way I would like but the background is showing up nicely.

Now I patina a piece of copper black so I can really see the non-engraved parts really well.

The abdomen is almost there but I will need to bring the background forward a little bit more. Just about there! This will look really good in silver as it is not as gummy as copper and will cut much nicer.

A small detail - you see the spot in the center where the reed is fading a little bit... Well, when you consider that the deepest cut on this pattern is somewhere between .003 and .004", and that an adjustment of .0003" can make a big difference as to how things show up - you get into the realm of flatness of the pattern and how the method of securing the pattern can bend it ever so slightly. And, this is well within the tolerance of flatness for the piece of metal being engraved.

This goes back to some people believing that Brocade work is, or is not, group under the heading of Guilloche' (Engine Turning). I find that those who do not feel Brocade work is worthy of the Guilloche' title believe it to be an easy art - once the machine is set up then you can make multiple copies of the same pattern whilst Rose Engine and Straight Line work require more hands work for every engraved line. This is true. But, when really using a Brocade Engine as an artistic medium rather than just a copy machine - I do not agree. I can turn out (literally) 80 sunburst pattern 1-1/4" disks ready for enameling on my Rose Engine before I will be able to make my first Dragonfly ready for the same (enameling).

I leave it to you, the reader to determine if Brocade work is considered part of the Engine Turning/Guilloche' family of engraving, or not. Frankly, I do not care; I'm too busy having fun.