Hi Vicki,
I’m not sure why there’s not more Japanese engraving out there, I
can only guess that like in the West until the last few years of the
twentieth century, engraving as a trade and an art had all but died.
In America, if not for the efforts of a very few, very dedicated
individuals, it might have died out completely. It wasn’t until the
early 1980’s when the Firearms Engravers Guild of America (FEGA) was
formed, that a resurgence of engraving began in the West. Before
that, there was hardly any literature at all anywhere, few tools
available (you had to make your own), very few schools that taught
engraving beyond the most basic skills and even fewer talented
engravers willing to share their secrets. Everything an engraver
learned had to be self-taught, or was learned from a mentor that
jealously guarded their knowledge, willing to share with only one or
two people they considered worthy, often only after a long and
difficult apprenticeship. I suspect it might still be that way in
Japan, even today. I know that’s how they treat the equally ancient
art of sword making. There’s no such thing as a “Weekend Samurai
Sword Making Workshop” in Japan. Not for any amount of money.
Japanese swordmakers are legendary for keeping those techniques
extremely well protected and secret, treating the craft almost as a
religion and a military secret.
Thanks mainly to the efforts of FEGA, and the American ideal of
pursuit of profit in the manufacture and marketing of tools, things
have changed pretty dramatically here in the States since then. There
are many different sources of and many places to take
beginner to highly advanced classes now. I would highly recommend you
check out GRS for their classes, and compare prices. The initial
experience of a beginner’s class will tell you whether you want to
proceed with higher education with a Japanese Master. It might just
be that you can learn everything you need for a lot less money.
That’s assuming you’re in the US, of course.
As to the differences in tools, you are very likely to find that the
differences in tools may be greater from engraver to engraver than
from any geographical or historical perspective. I don’t know any two
accomplished engravers that shape their tools exactly the same, or
for that matter, that do anything the same. If they do, one of them
isn’t necessary.
I think the main reason you don’t see much in the way of engraved
embossed work is that it is extraordinarily difficult to do and the
financial reward in the eyes of most engravers would most likely make
it an artform not worth mastering. The angular relationship of the
cutting edges on a graver and the surface being cut must remain
almost perfectly constant for there to be any degree of accuracy,
meaning that the surface must be relatively flat (or at least
uniformly curved) or the graver must move considerably to maintain
that very specific angle to the work. A complex three dimensional
surface therefore is almost impossible to cut accurately as the
angles that the graver must be positioned can change dramatically in
just a millimeter or two. There must also be room to maneuver the
graver (hammer and chisel techniques require less room than hand
gravers), deep depressions can’t be cut in any direction other than
inward.
But just because it hasn’t been done before, is no reason that it
can’t be done now though, especially if you were to design your
repousse and chasing specifically for your engraving. Ron Smith, one
of the finest engravers of our time and a founding member of FEGA
wrote in his beautiful book “Advanced Drawing of Scrolls” that -
"Creativity, balance, rhythm, order, peace, movement, and grace are
the things that you will find in quality scroll drawing, but
creativity lies around the edges, on the fringes of what has been
done and what has not.
“Pioneers and risk takers are essential to our [referring to
engravers’] survival and evolution, and this applies to art as well
as life.”
The good news Vicki, is that you have found a wide open field out
there, just waiting for a pioneer like you to open up and explore.
Dave Phelps