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Old 10-23-2014, 10:23 AM
Barry Lee Hands's Avatar
Barry Lee Hands Barry Lee Hands is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Bigfork, Montana
Posts: 1,399
Default different ways to relieve background

There are a lot of ways to skin this cat, and cat skinning is always messy for a beginner, hehe.
Generally, I will cut my leaves and sculpt them with a round bottom. Then, I cut the scroll lines with a 116 degree, and the edges of the leaves also.
I have found, after many years of using a flat for background, that to relieve - I prefer to start with a round bottom to relieve the background, as it is easy to go quick, and I mean really quick- without making a mess of the edges. It als solves the problem of a high spot in the center of the negative space, because with a round bottom, the center becomes the low spot.
After the first relief pass with the round bottom I go in with a flat about .020 in or .5 mm, to flatten, then a .010 in flat to clean the corners, then touch up with a 90 v chisel all the original lines
Next I punch everything flat, stipple, recut with the 90 again, and stipple the fine edge again.
to fully sculpt and relieve a pair of scope rings, this takes about 6 days.
I am commenting, because I happen to be doing a pair of rings for a project and have a pic to share:

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"Critics gather, they discuss aesthetics, Artists gather, they discuss turpentine. . ."- Pablo Picasso
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