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Signets and crests

#1

I am interested in family crests and coats of arms carved into gems,
especially those carved so as to leave a raised design in sealing
wax.

How does an artist carve a “negative” design–and what is the proper
term for it? My guess is that you need to carve a raised design
first, take an impression of it, and use the impression as the map.
Or are there artists who can work from the positive design?

Janet

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to use the
Internet and he won’t bother you for weeks.

#2

Janet, there are still Cameo and Intaglio carvers in Italy that
still do it the hard way, nearly all by hand, also now there are many
done by ultrasonic carving in which case the master is made then a
machine does the rest,

#3

Family crest creation looks like a strong point of programs like
ArtCAM. They have the ability to produce metal molds, which are a
negative image of a design. I have seen CAD/CAM carved stones in
Tucson, it should be a relatively simple matter to find those people
and contract them to cut the stone from your design. Carl