Learn to draw acanthus leaves

[4v50 Gary]

Free online book. Link: https://books.google.com/books?id=M...page&q=Guide For Drawing The Acanthus&f=false

I was asked what is the purpose of posting that link. During the flintlock era, acanthus leaves were common decorations engraved on locks and stocks. It's stuff like this:

 

[Berkley]

Not limited to the flintlock era...

 

[792mauser]

Dang.
Love the work done on the revolver.

 

[whughett]

Deep sigh, if only I could and be able to carve it into some of my wood projects.

 

[sparkyv]

Rifle case my Dad made in high school. He is talented, and has much patience!

 

[paul harm]

I don't remember where I read it, but I THINK if you copy pictures of what you want and then lay it print side down and rub the back with acetone the ink will rub off giving you a pattern to follow. I don't remember if it was plain paper or something special.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I stand corrected. It was popular on flintlocks, but carries over into today. You can also find it on period furniture and other home furnishings. Versailles! I haven't been to Freddie the Great's palace San Souchi (Without Care) but I'm sure that Prussian spent some ducats on it since he wanted it to rival Versailles.

 

[ClemBert]

I know a lot of you have fancier stuff but for grins I thought I'd post pics of my only Acanthus patterned black powder revolver. Not super fancy but not too bad for a $230 Pietta from Cabela's.

 

[ClemBert]

Ideally, the Ancanthus pattern should be designed around the pins and screws...And, not very sophisticated when they stamp proofing marks and date codes on top of it....LOL.

 

[ClemBert]

Then, there's some other scroll stuff...maybe got lazy on the front part of the barrel...

 

[Choctaw]

Great thread and thank you to everyone who posted pictures of their beautiful guns...no matter how jealous you made me.

 

[4v50 Gary]

horrible when they go right over the stampings. Better to go around the stampings and use it to accent them.

 

[sltm1]

Thanks for the post, I had no idea the engraving style was copied off an actual leaf !!

 

[whughett]

Rifle case my Dad made in high school. He is talented, and has much patience!
View attachment 788397

Been watching a number of YouTube vids on leather projects, they make it look easy as most of the actual lines are not engraved but, displaced (?) by various tools then enhanced by other stamps. Talking my self into a another project hobby by investing in some of the tools necessary to give it a go. For example a display box for revolvers with a leather inlayed top decorated with the leaves or other design.

 

[whughett]

ClemBert, some nice photography there, a cut above most cell phone photos..

 

[ClemBert]

ClemBert, some nice photography there, a cut above most cell phone photos..

Thanks. Yes, all my photos are taken with my cell phone which is currently a Samsung S7 Edge. It's remarkable the job this cell phone does ESPECIALLY in low lighting which is what I prefer to avoid glare. Yes, I'm sure if I learned what I was doing I could do better but I'm simply snapping pics with standard settings and not even using the highest resolution it's capable of.

 

[whughett]

The technology today in these phones today is remarkable. Years ago I bought a 35mm single lens reflex camera, read very book I could on the subject and learned first hand photography is 10% technical and 90% artistic. The camera is still lying in a drawer in my gun room.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Check out Art of Engraving by James Meeks and Peter Alexander has good instructional book on building long rifles. He goes into carving a bit.

 

[gillmeister692]

Free online book. Link: https://books.google.com/books?id=MhJAAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=Guide+For+Drawing+The+Acanthus&as_brr=1&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=Guide For Drawing The Acanthus&f=false

I was asked what is the purpose of posting that link. During the flintlock era, acanthus leaves were common decorations engraved on locks and stocks. It's stuff like this:

View attachment 788331 View attachment 788332

So beautiful! I dig it.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I didn't care for the Meek book. I like John Schipper's book and the price has just come down.

 

[ClemBert]

Why is it that 100, 200, 500+ years ago that humans put more effort into the artsy decorative details of tools, implements, firearms, buildings, etc. They lived shorter lives and the effort was so much more without power tools, CNC, lasers, etc. Relatively speaking, the effort during these times would be so minimal compared to 100's of years ago. It's really a shame we don't do more embellishments. Now, THIS is a cannon!

 

[sparkyv]

Been watching a number of YouTube vids on leather projects, they make it look easy as most of the actual lines are not engraved but, displaced (?) by various tools then enhanced by other stamps. Talking my self into a another project hobby by investing in some of the tools necessary to give it a go. For example a display box for revolvers with a leather inlayed top decorated with the leaves or other design.

Here's the tools he used to make that rifle case. He showed me to use them decades ago, but I just don' have the patience he does.

 

[daboyleroy]

Why is it that 100, 200, 500+ years ago that humans put more effort into the artsy decorative details of tools, implements, firearms, buildings, etc. They lived shorter lives and the effort was so much more without power tools, CNC, lasers, etc. Relatively speaking, the effort during these times would be so minimal compared to 100's of years ago. It's really a shame we don't do more embellishments. Now, THIS is a cannon!

New meaning to......
Looking down the barrel of the gun
Or
The business end

 

[LoneGoose]

I don't remember where I read it, but I THINK if you copy pictures of what you want and then lay it print side down and rub the back with acetone the ink will rub off giving you a pattern to follow. I don't remember if it was plain paper or something special.

This works when using the right brand of laser printer (toner recipes differ). The acetone melts the toner and then evaporates. If you remove the paper before it is dry, you will transfer some of the toner to your workpiece. Then it dries and makes a smear-proof image. I print on my inkjet at home, then get copies made at Office Max.