The Armour Archive

ah ! rainald ! very cool ! if i was you i would be very proud if that was my first atempt. looks very cool !!! be nice too see more guys out there spending the extra time to make a suit look that detailed !

matt

Rainald! think about that, its your first! sometimes time and sweat can overcome! great stuff

Ugo, like me im sure that the training would help a great deal BUT you must be doing most of it right!!!!! The biggest thing about how you use the tools is how long into your life you will be able to continue working. Valentin is VERY ridged about 3 hour work stretches with no more then 6 hours a day actually hammering. I didnt believe him back when i started, but i sure do now

there are additives you can put in the pitch to make it harder and do a better backing for steel parts, but then your pitch will be too hard for detail work and you would have to have a second batch. Normally all steel work is done using 'Deep drawing steel' basicly very low carbon content (1002 or even less!) or in Bloom Iron, which appears to only be available in england (recycled at that)

Let me ask, since this is really what i first came back to these forums about. Ugo , are you working on a medusa shield? rumor has it your already started? I'm very interested!! Do you make it out to pensic? we are in the general area, but i have never been before. Perhaps we could meet

Lead, o man , its the magic pitch but SO SO SO bad for you to use. I do use it once in a great while for rolling edges , but i know i shouldnt. I would not recomend anyone use it like this. I'll post a fantastic piece of copper repousse backed by lead i found in a trash pile from Kirk Stieff Silver. Its a study for someones initials in copper where the depth is absolutely straight up and down. but its to bad for you to use, avoid it if possible

I do have a quanity of 'lead free' pewter for my casting machine, I'll have to try some and see what results i get

Its a shame that tin is so much more expensive than lead...

Of course, once you've bought it, it isn't going away...

This is a fantastic set of repoussed Initials done in one piece of copper. Notice how square the sides of the letters are, almost looks like saw piercing! This is the kind of work that can be done with lead backing, still i wouldnt recomend it......

I got this out of the trash at the Kirk Stieff Silver auction... pays to check everything when your in such a place!

<IMG src="http://www.baltimoreknife.com/Initials1.jpg">

That reminds me of the detail some of the Negroli helms have, straight sided embossing, but in steel.

ok, me again,

now u can see how my mind has been working lately, i have jst finished a pair of splinted vambraces, and am starting on rerbraces and splinted greaves, with school on again i am not going to have much time to be getting into my shed and getting stuff started, so yeh i have been looking at repose' for a whiile as a substitute that i can do in my room as i get bored of homework, u know a half hour brake here and there to work on a peice!! so i have been convinced that i should by this thread, sounds like some challenging fun. i did a blacksmithing course that contained a little on repose' where he used a tree stump as the backing, so i need some guidense here, we need a tutorial!! please,

n e one that thinks they are experienced enough to give some guidennce, and there are many of u out there, could u wip something together when u have time? pics would help of course, most humans learn better visually!

Kind Regards,
Matthias

Try this http://www.valentinyotkov.com/article.htm

You could also enroll in one of Valentin Yotkov's weekend workshops, they might seem a bit pricey, but the reviews I've read all say they are worth every penny. I'm sure Kerry can say more about them than I can, not having taken them.

The workshops and classes can be found here http://www.valentinyotkov.com/site/studio.htm

i actually had not seen that article all in one place. As for the book, Valentin has been on it awhile, but i've seen more of it and pictures he will be using. It will certainly be a must have reguardless of cost.

The weekend classes you refer to are 5 day intensive classes and yes they are quite expensive. If you however consider that you have 5 8 hour days with someone who is , for our day and time, one of the very top level repousse artist in the world. He TEACHES the chasers from Tiffany's, just think on that... To the best of my knowledge the only other chasing teacher of this level is in Florance Italy and i believe he requires 2 months of your time. While several of Valentin's students go to italy as well, I just cant make that commitment of time much less the cost.

Remember, there are other very good teachers who also teach repousse, but they are teachers, not masters of the art.

about the straight sides. almost all classical styled work has the relief showing straight sides right where they meet the background. THis is a must for showing detail relief and shadowing. Even if they are small it makes a huge difference. I'm not good about it because i work so hard to get a good flow and transition between parts and often forget to leave the small vertical area, but im working on it!

here is a plate for the side of a custom cutlass guard im working on. we will use the original for a high end piece where it will most likely be backfilled and gilt as well as make a mold for future use. The skull will still need all the teeth defined and the border will be roped. The flames came out great, the picture does not due them justice. I'm very pleased with the layering. the head is kind of set between layers of flames.
Notice this is a beast of a pitch bowl in cast iron, its my favorite!

I get the feeling there are more of us out there playing with this kind of work! post your progress! I have found a very good bowl about 26" across and am trying to figure out how i can afford that much pitch, ive wanted to start a shield for a very long time

<IMG src="http://www.baltimoreknife.com/skullz1.jpg">

I have a couple of very good examples of work that was cast and then chased that might give some great real world examples of things that can be done without starting from scratch, its actually how i got started , chasing onto cast objects, some with artwork already on them.

finally got my first crack at working with Deep drawing steel. Man what a huge difference! Chasing lines feels almost exactly like working in copper. I can't tell you guys how different it is from working other steels.

I'm beating on a Cuphilt for a rapier and I'll get pics of it tomorrow.

well that looks cool!
hope u can afford the pitch i would like to see a sheild be made!
question:
could beeswax be used as a pith, if not, could i make some beeswax 'softer' so to be used as pitch, i know a method of softening, involves melted qwax and olive oil. so what do u think, can beeswax be used.

oh and also do u need pitch?

regards,

Matt

Hello.

If you are working with pitch, there´s but one reason to have a hemispherical bowl. Most chsers have a ring- shaped leather cushion carrying the bowl which allows for turning the piece or adjust the working angle without it all slipping away. But not the entire bowl has to be filled with pitch. The economic tip from the local goldsmith´s school is: Fill the lower third to lower half with gravel, then put in the pitch.
Saves you a lot of material and money, does not interfere with material properties.
Another thing. If you are embossing on domed pieces and need to work from the outside, clamp a log into your vice, build upon it a mound of pitch, set pre- chased piece upon it.

Regards

Ivo

the bowl form makes a huge difference when working on the sides or relief. most chasers using larger bowls use a small solid rubber tire for a lawnmower or such as the bottom ring

Beeswax is much to soft to start with as the pitch must support the work. I intend to try the pitch from NW pitchworks for the larger project as it is FAR cheaper then the Red German i use for fine work

While it is a cost saving method to prefill your bowl with gravel (most guys i know use plaster) I've found it does indeed hamper the work, certainly when you begin to make deeper (higher) work at the repousse stage. if your just working on small low relief its just fine, but if you can afford it I'd fill the bowl completely with pitch. I'm about to empty my first poject bowls just to remove the plaster

The wood/pitch method is certainly the way to go to hold smaller hollow forms, or they can be laided into a leather shot bag (or sand bag of course)

I intend to use the large bowls for some very high relief work so i will be filling them completely with medium grade from NW pitchworks. I may try some hard grade as well

so the beeswax would be too soft, wow i thought maybe it would be too hard and would crack!! oh well.
was hoping to get away with a cheap alternative!

n e one in Aus know where to get some pitch? preferably from queensland?

reagrds,
Matt

n e one in Aus know where to get some pitch?

I'll second that!

Anyone?

I've been searching online with only a reference to a museum in Brisbane which is performing an extraordinary experiment on pitch's viscosity. I have contacted some jewellery supply houses in Sydney with the main response being..."What?"