Glass Engraving

Last week I went out on a limb and took a class at the Villages Life Long Learning College on glass engraving.  This was something I never considered a possibility until I saw the class listed in the VLLLC catalog.  I had no expectations for being any good at this but it sounded like a fun thing to try.   Well I was surprised.   During this 3 hour class the instructor showed us how use the engraver, explained the burs and talked us through a practice engraving.   During the last hour we were each given a drawing of a long stemmed rose to engrave and we were all able to successfully engrave it onto an 8x11 piece of glass.  After we engraved our glass, the instructor filled in the lines with gold and we got our masterpieces to take home.   It was much easier to learn than I ever imagined.

Rose I Engraved on Glass, Gold Filled and Framed on a Black Speckled Background Paper

I enjoyed that class so much that I signed up for a second class for this past Tuesday.  This one was on how to engrave on an object that you can't see through or has an unusual shape.   We each had a 6x8 white ceramic tile to work on and were given a choice of  pictures to engrave.  I picked a Maxine cartoon because I wanted to practice straight lines.   This required a different bur, which we each purchased.  Once the engraving was done we were shown how to paint it.  Although I was the last one to finish engraving, I was the first one done painting.  I am very pleased with my effort, even though my straight lines still need work and know I can have fun doing more of these.  I am signed up for a third class next week, Engraving Calligraphy.  Relatives, look out, craft gifts to follow. :-))

All Black Lines are Engraved, Including Text.

It is so much fun to actually have time to be able to take these classes and learn something new.  I am registered for 4 other classes and l will write about them as I take them.