Students taking this course will develop an understanding and a working knowledge of hand engraving processes and the uses of related materials and equipment for the manufacture of jewelry articles.  Quality craftsmanship, industry standards, and time management will be emphasized.

Hand engraving courses are practice-intensive and require that you develop skills progressively throughout the semester.  If more than 10% of the total 80 clock hours for this course are missed (10%=8 hours or 3.2 classes) you could be dropped with a grade of “W”, or after final semester withdrawal date, with a grade of “F”.

An introduction to the basic techniques of hand engraving includes:

• Bench set-up and equipment
• Overview of different gravers and how to sharpen them
• Learn how to trace/ draw/cut script letters. 
• How to transfer designs on objects to be engraved
• Learn basic cutting techniques with square, flat, and round gravers.

All instruction emphasizes industry standards.

Students take this course to:

1. Learn how to sharpen and use different types of gravers
2. Apply and transfer design on objects to be engraved
3. Gain a deep appreciation of engraving by looking at and discussing all manner of engravings from its earliest developement up through the present 

1. You will need 3 gravers and 3 Collets
   1. I will provide a seperate information sheet on what and where to purchase gravers
2. A 6"x 12" Sheet of Copper--18 or 20 Gauge is fine
   1. 20 gauge sheet is item #132120 on Rio
   2. 18 gauge sheet is item # 132118 on Rio
3. You will need to provide metal/object for your personal project 
   1. It could be a Zippo Lighter, a silver pendant or ring,a small steel folding knife, etc...
4. 3M Polishing Paper--400 grit (green), or an assortment of grits that includes the 400 grit (availabe on Rio and amazon) 
5. 3 Ring Binder
6. Sharpies--one Fine, one Ultra Fine

---Recommended Materials---

1. Dividers

2. Sketch Book

3. Optivisor

4. 003 Micron Pen

5. 005 Micro Pen

1. The Art of Engraving by James B. Meek
2. Drawing and Understanding Scroll Designs: for Artists, Engravers and Collectors by Ron Smith with F.J. Maisel
3. Copperplate Calligraphy from A to Z by Sarah Richardson
4. Jewelry Making by Murray Bovin
5. The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight
6. The Design and Creation of Jewelry by Robert von Neumann
7. The Jeweler’s Bench Reference by Harold O’Connor
8. Jewelry Concepts and Technology by Oppi Untracht
9. Jeweler’s Resource by Bruce G. Kruth
10. Professional Goldsmithing by Alan Revere
11. The Theory & Practice of Goldsmithing by Prof. Dr. Erhard Brepohl
12. The Metalsmith’s Book of Boxes & Lockets by Tim McCreight
13. Creative Stonesetting by John Cogswell
14. Introduction to Precious Metals by Mark Grimwade
15. Jeweler’s supply catalogs (e.g.-Rio Grande, Otto Frei, Gesswein, Hoover and Strong Precious Metals, and many others) all of which are excellent resources for familiarizing yourself with the tools available, as well as for general information on metals and their alloys, technique, charts for calculations, and new jewelry products on the market.
16. Professional jewelers’ periodicals (e.g.-Jeweler’s Circular Keystone (JCK), Metalsmith (SNAG), Jewelry Artist (Lapidary Journal), Professional Jeweler, etc.)

Your final grade will be based on your progress throughout the semester.  Grades will be given in accordance with the following:

Attendance—32 points

• 1 point per day.
  • If you are more than 30 min late/leave 30 min early I will deduct 1/2 point for the day. 
  • If you are more than an 60 minutes late/leave 60 min early, no attendace point will be given for the class day. 
• The importance of your attendance cannot be expressed enough. It goes hand in hand with “productivity”. You will not be able to finish the projects if you don’t attend. As stated before, if more than 8 hours (3.2 classes) are missed, I can drop you from the course.
  • That being said, please don't come to class sick.

Acquiring Materials in a timely manner—6 points

• Please have all required material in your possession by the end of the second week of class. Every week after that will deduct 2 points from your total grade.

Sharpening—10 points

• Sharpening is crucial to engraving. The square graver is the most complicated and will be worth 4 points each. The flat graver will be worth 2 points. 

Projects—20 points

• Lines—2 points
• Circles—2 points
• Lines and Circles—2 points
• Fine Line Flower—2 points
• Western Flower and border—4 points
• Engravers Script
  • Tracing/Drawing—2 points
  • Cutiing—2 points
• Personal Project—4 points

Participation—16 points

• All individuals should show a cooperative spirit in working together and helping each other so that the collective experience will be beneficial to everyone.  Cooperation with each other in a working environment is very important so that an atmosphere of learning, productivity and creativity may take place. 
• This includes and end of semester reflection. This will take place on the last day of class It will be a time where each person gets to share their work from the whole semester and reflect on they learned from this class. 

Lab Policy

[Each Student will be asked to sign this policy as a condition of enrollment.]

1. We have literally thousands of objects to keep track of in the Jewelry Lab, some of them so small they look like debris when scattered.  Notice where things come from, and put them back exactly in their proper places.  If you don’t know for sure where something goes, don’t put it away-- put it on the instructor’s bench.  Sometimes a tool can be lost for weeks, only inches from where it belongs.
2. Your instructor will assign you a workbench at the start of each semester.
3. Your bench will be used by several other students.  Please leave it clean.  Clean-up time is ten minutes before the end of class.
4. Return all tools to their proper places.
5. Throw away used sandpaper and other trash on the bench or in the drop trays.  Leave nothing but sweeps in the lower tray.
6. Brush off your bench top into the lower drop tray. If there are any sweeps in the upper tray, send them down the hole to the lower one. Use the magnet to separate steel, such as sawblades, from the sweeps, and discard or recycle it.
7. Brush the sweeps through the hole into the plastic container beneath the tray.  Once the sweeps go down the hole, they belong to ACC—no scavenging.
8. Please report any missing tools to the instructor.
9. Surrounding work areas must be cleaned with the combined efforts of all students.
10. If there is an equipment malfunction, please inform your instructor immediately so that it can be returned to service as soon as possible.
11. If you make a mess somewhere else in the lab, please take care of it yourself.  Note to casting students: This includes investment messes, with special attention to the downdraft table.
12. At the soldering stations, if you find something missing or depleted, don’t borrow it from another station.  If you don’t know how to fix or replenish the item for yourself, ask your instructor to show you.
13. Smoking and eating are not permitted in the laboratories or classrooms.
14. Please do not use your cell phone in the lab. When it rings, please take it outside.
15. Please keep conversations quiet, so as not to distract the instructor or students.
16. A Lost & Found box for small or valuable items is located in a locker in the tool room. At the end of each semester, any unclaimed items will be disposed of.
17. While you are registered for a jewelry course, you may occupy an empty seat in another class in the jewelry lab, provided you have the permission of the instructor whose class you sit in on.  You are a guest outside your own class time, however, and must defer to the students in that class in choice of seats, use of equipment, and the instructor’s attention.  You may be asked to relinquish a seat you have occupied for some time to a later arriving guest student.  Please yield graciously, in any case.
18. Do not enter the lab while under the influence of, or while suffering the aftereffects of, any recreational drug, including alcohol, or any prescription drug that impairs your ability. No tobacco products may be used in the lab.  Caffeine is allowed!

1. Wear safety glasses when sharpening gravers.
2. Always wear the proper attire when working with fire (torches) and hot or molten metal. Clothing should be natural fiber. Synthetic fibers melt and stick to skin when heated, making burn injuries far worse than otherwise.  Your legs should be covered to the knees, and shoes should completely cover your feet.
3. Never walk away from a lit torch, even for a moment.  Turn it off and relight.
4. Don’t leave flammables (except firecoat) on the soldering benches, e.g., paper towels, books, plastic bottles and cups, etc. 
5. If you smell propane, don’t assume someone else will take care of it.
6. Be sure that both oxygen and fuel valves are closed on unlit torches.
7. Be aware of the direction of the heat plume from a lit torch.
8. Keep your hair out of the flame.   
9. If you are melting metal to pour an ingot, make sure your metal and mold are dry.  Molten metal can pop and splatter if it comes in contact with even trace amounts of moisture.
10. Wear proper eye protection when using the torches. Most soldering is done without dark lenses, but if a process is causing you to have afterimages, you should wear a #3 shade lens for that type of work.  A #3 lens will also be enough protection in most casting situations. A #5 lens may be needed when casting metals with higher melting points (bronze, brass, and copper) and for prolonged melting of larger volumes of metal (50 grams or more). A #5 to #11 lens would also be needed for platinum work.
11. Throwing hot metal into the pickle solution can cause spattering, dispersing toxic and corrosive particles into the air, which can harm your skin, lungs, eyes, and clothing.  So do it carefully if at all.