The magnificent world of Alasdair Gordon…

All images are © to Mr. Alasdair Gordon and I am humbled to have been given permission to use them. Thank you.

With great honor I am pleased to show you the beautiful, detailed and delicate work of Mr. Alasdair Gordon. I came upon Mr. Gordon’s work while doing some research on the internet and my eyes were delighted. I thought Mr. Gordon was engraving poetry with each cut on the beautiful soft and detailed glass. I can only imagine the divinity my eyes will experience to see these items in person. Mr. Gordon has been kind enough to email and allow me to use and share some of his images with you, but to know more about this master copper wheel engraver who is stated on his site “concentrates totally on wheel engraved cameo subjects” as you can see… please visit his website and share the link! This ladies and gentlemen is as good and beautiful as glass engraving gets.

Mr. Alasdair Gordon’s website:

http://www.gordonstudio.com.au/engravers/alasdair_gordon.html

The Mastery of Peter Dreiser

All photos are © to blackcountryhistory.org

When I started learning to engrave and about the subject someone gave me the book “Techniques of glass engraving” by Peter Dreiser and Jonathan Matcham; thus starting a love affair between the copper wheel glass engraving and I. Engraving in my eyes is like sculpting the piece of glass. Like giving it life, something soft and sensual between the engraving and that piece of clear material begging to be given life. There are not many “photos” of Mr. Dreiser’s work on line, however when I find one I save the link and photo and ask permission to use it. Here you have the web-site to get my information on these photos:

http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/DMUSE_BH4102/

I hope you enjoy viewing these beautiful piece of work as I have.

Diamonds are a girl’s best friends! (and for the boys who engrave too)

Photos 1) Screen shot of Diama Diamonds main page 2) Sample of some of their burs as they are packaged when they arrive.

Diama Diamond - a great supplier of high quality diamond burs at a great price.

So if you live in the USA this is our favorite place to buy diamond burs and one of the tricks of smoothing your engraving their name is Diama Diamond and here is the web site:

http://www.diamadiamonds.com/?section=home

Why do we love them??

*Because they have amazing customer service, you call and a person answers! NO ANSWERING MACHINE!

*Their prices! 1.25 to 1.75 each! That’s it!!! Though you need to buy them in minimum of 5. It is a great deal. And I got an email this year where the prices went SUPER LOW my order of $50 dollars came down to $30.

TIP FOR SMOOTHING: Start your cut with aregular standard coarse bur one of the cheaper burs you get as a pack on amazon or ebay like this for example:

http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Quality-20-Piece-Diamond-Point-Rotary-Tool/dp/B000MOI9G6/ref=sr_1_5?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1311326250&sr=1-5

Or buy some directly from Diama Diamond. (standard coarse)

These above can give you a rough cut and start your engraving but if you want to smooth it and prepare it for polishing I would go back and smooth it with one of the burs from Diama Diamond and any bur that has a very fine to super fine or micro fine composite polishers from Diama Diamonds, a very light touch and slow speed and you will get the smoothing done. It takes practice but it’s not that difficult.

All their burs are for a size 1/16 collet so make sure you have that, you can also download a PDF copy of their catalogue which the original size of the burs once you print them.

Shipping is not that expensive I believe about $10 for every order under $100 dollars; though my last order took a week to ship, good thing I was in no hurry. Give them a try if you are looking for no hasstle, quality products with great customer service at a good price! They are closed and shut down their website to celebrate Jewish holidays. So if the site is down when you try it please try again at a later day. Thank you and I hope this helps! If you know of any other suppliers please give us the information so we can know about them as well! Thank you and happy engraving!

Le murmure délicat de Miki Kubo

Photos from top to bottom 1) Iceland Poppy 2) Cosmos – All images © are to Miki Kubo and Michael Myers and used with their kind permission.

The delicate whispers of Miki Kubo: (Drill engraver)

When I saw Miki’s engraving my eyes were delighted, they started to roam all over her work… I found beautiful shades, soft touches, smooth surfaces and I felt as if Miki was whispering life on to her subject. I asked Miki for permission to add some of her photos on here and so I really am out of words! Aside being such an amazing artist she is also a really kind sweet person. Thank you Miki for allowing me to share this on my blog.

I admire the proportion and perspective achieved on her subjects and the cuts on her glass as well as the soft transitions of her shades. She is one of the best engravers I have come across and I am honored to share this feast for the eyes with you. (Click on her images here and you will be able to see her softness with amazing detail.)

Her website:

http://www.mikikubo.com/index.html

Her work for sale

http://www.kirragalleries.com/kirra/Exhibitions/CurrentExhibitions/ANaturalWorld/tabid/357/Default.aspx

DVD: Glass Engraving with Peter Dreiser. One word: AMAZING!!!!

Photos from top to bottom: 1) front cover 2) back cover 3) open case

The only DVD of its kind that I have come across. Sadly there isn’t much footage of high quality glass engraving available. But I hope in the future to change that because I have fallen in love with glass engraving and my calligraphy master has encourage me to do something to keep it alive… I hope in the future to be able to meet some of the artist I so greatly admire and be able to archive their work, biographies and also to keep them alive in videos for eternity! But until then… lets work with what we have.

I got this DVD from the Guild of Glass Engravers in the UK a couple of weeks ago here is their website:

http://www.gge.org.uk/

I am a huge fan of Mr. Dreiser and had only seen one photo of him, so I was so excited at the fact that I was to see him move and hear him talk… and of course see him engrave. First allow me to tell you what is not so good about this DVD:

The sound (is not so great)

And that is about it! The image is clear (not HD or anything) but the image is clear though not the size that will take a whole screen, it is neat and you can see everything at a great angle and close up.

Mr. Dreise takes his time to explain almost everything one can explain in almost three hours of footage. He explains copper wheels, polishing, stone wheels, setting up your engraving space, abrasives… He touches a whole lot of subjects on this DVD and has an amazing accent. But wait! that's not all… He also does a project and takes you step by step on how he is engraving and the cuts he is using as well as material. But that is not it! The DVD Is so amazing that he also does two extra engravings both on Flex. Drill and a Mircromotor! He goes into details while engraving with the drill such as burs, smoothing, water usage, polishing and also engraves both intaglio and surface forms. I am fascinated with copper wheel engraving, to me it was such a treat to see this virtuoso of the engraving in action. And I was so please to see there was much more. If you have a chance to get it… do so! You will love it! It is so worth it. Please click the link below to order this dvd and if you live outside of the UK make sure you choose overseas shipping. The DVD is sold at a great price! Running time: 180 minutes.

Order the Dvd here:

http://www.gge.org.uk/store/products/18

Sorry : for some reason my blog was switched to private! Back to public!

This is a public blog... if you are interested in a topic please contact me and we can find something out for you. So here is a lil music with what else.... GLASS! for you!

The mastery of Denis Mann

Photos from top to bottom: 1) The mastermind trophy 2011 2) The mastermind trophy (detail, work in progress at a rough stage) 3) Denis Mann in action. All photos are © To Denis Mann and used with his grateful permission.

I would like to share with you (if you have not seen) the beautiful work of Mr. Denis Mann. I wrote Mr. Mann a few days ago, and thankfully got a reply from him, which was very nice and gave me permission to add some of his photos and a link to his website on to our blog. I think the detail and softness of his engraving make a very beautiful detailed and masterful piece of art. I am a huge fan of his work and I am so honored to have him on here. Please visit his website to see more of his work. I have ran out of words to explain exactly how honored I am so…. Enjoy!

Denis Mann’s web site:

http://www.denismann.com/

Blog:

http://mastermindtrophy.wordpress.com/