Resources for Engraving

This list includes some resources and information about American commercial engraving and engraving for social stationary, it is by no ways complete. However, it is the beginnings of a more robust reference for intaglio engraving, and commercial engraving for stationery relevant to today: Some universities still have intaglio areas in their print making department for fine art etching and printing, one of these are great places to start.

There is a fully restored engraving proofing press in the graphic design department "dirty room" at Loyola University New Orleans. Small plates and dies, prepared commercially can be printed on it. Here are links to the entire, several year journey of the engraving proofing press:

http://typophile.com/node/61604
http://typophile.com/node/59459
http://typophile.com/node/58983
(Sample of the 1/2" thick steel dies for which the press was designed.)
http://typophile.com/node/51189

Photo-engraved* (etched) copper plates, art must be in vector, saved as Illustrator CS3 or earlier, or EPS:

Beaver Creek Engraving
P. O. Box 766
660 Creekside Drive
Dobson, NC 27017
336-356-8760
beavercreek@surry.net
rdoby@beavercreekengraving.com
http://www.beavercreekengraving.com/

Intaglio (copper) plate, ready to draw-on, comes with etching needle (to draw with—you have to draw flopped, as in backwards or mirror image). He etches, pulls a print, and ships it back to you (as in “print and ship”:

PrintShip
PO Box 86583
Portland OR 97286
503.348.9214
info@printship.net
http://printship.net/PS/Orders.html

Commercial engraver, (primarily a pressman—the guy who can take your commercially genegrated intaglio plate or die and print it) can provide plates from your vector art, as well as paper and the actual die stamping**:

Hart Engraving
4928 North 29th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53209-5407
414.445.5555
http://hartengraving.com/

International Engraved Graphics Association website includes their directory of commercial and stationery engravers:

http://www.iega.org/

A brand new online engraving community underwritten by Crane & Co. and Neenah Paper:

The Beauty of Engraving

http://thebeautyofengraving.com/

Another full service engraving shop, independently owned by a lovely married couple (she's the engraver and he's the pressman):

First Impressions

900 East Jefferson Street
La Grange, KY 40031
(502) 265-9821
www.firstimpressionfse.com/

Pneumatic engraving system, developed for engraved jewelry, guns and fine knives, GSR is working with University of Kansas at Emporia on intaglio engraving for print:

GRS Tools
900 Overlander Rd.
P.O. Box 1153
Emporia, KS 66801
1-800-835-3519 or 620-343-1084
http://www.grstools.com/

The first [program] “in the world” to offer a BFA in engraving arts.

http://www.emporia.edu/engravingarts/instructor.html

Contact:

James Ehlers
The Don & Mary Glaser Distinguished Professor of Engraving Arts
Emporia State University
astronautlover@gmail.com
jehlers@emporia.edu
http://www.jamesehlers.org/

Trade school for engraving the old fashioned way (James Ehlers, above, calls this “push engraving”) with graver or burin, though their instruction is for jewelry (which is right-reading. Remember, for intaglio printing you would have to learn to do this backwards.) This is one of the oldest continuously running trade schools in the country.

http://www.gemcitycollege.com/engraving.php

Master engraver (jewelry and fire arms, though doing only jewelry these days), Sam offers private lessons and instruction on the GRS machine as well. (Sam spent 3 years of his own time perfecting replicating engraved scroll work through vector art in Illustrator, check-out his website for this, great resources, too, though not for print) :

http://www.masterengraver.com/

Sam demonstrates engraving script:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s9hOGwUF-s&feature=related

Extreme close-up of engraving scroll work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dn5P98sWYw&feature=related

Fine shading and cross-hatching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8Q6xJJB4I&feature=related

Master engraver (the old fashioned way for jewelry, primarily, but also collaborating with intaglio print makers). Proprietor Yvette Rutledge is also a master lettering artist, tell her I referred you. Through the Center for the Lettering Arts, Eve is trying to get together a class for print and metal engravers:

Mystic Blue Signs
2212 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-525-4691
http://mysticbluesigns.com/

Beginning engraver, learning from her Dad, master gun smith Ed DeLorge:

J. Emily DeLorge
http://www.etsy.com/people/JEMengraving

Louisiana Engravers Society, fledgling organization of south Louisiana regional engraving practitioners and enthusiasts:

http://handengravedstationery.blogspot.com/
http://thesttammanynews.com/articles/2011/01/30/northshore_life/community/doc4d445fd9510c4232164706.txt

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver 1480-1650, print engraving exhibit with online components, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (engraving demos in Flash, I think, and also a video—access video button is in the upper right hand corner on the navigation bar.)

http://www.risdmuseum.org/thebrilliantline/

* Also spelled “photo engraving” and “photoengraving”.
** Commercial engraving presses are actually die stamping presses or machines.