MONKEY SEE. MONKEY DO.

Well, there was a bit more to it than that, although, I did just look at the shape of the character and then try to duplicate every nuance of it with a special bur.

First, I had to use a different bur than the round carbides I've used for decades, and that were used for the other script on this vase.

This is an INVERTED CONE. I've used this style so infrequently, I have no idea of the bur item number.

Russ Larsen may have the information and be a source. Russ owns the company that supplies the KEN BROWN ENGRAVING SYSTEM for my Workshop students. Find his contact info on this site under LEARN ENGRAVING.

The customer gave me the characters from a Hebrew font on his computer. When he handed me the paper with the wording to be engraved, I merely went to my bur cabinet and found the inverted cone, the size I knew would make the letters in the correct shape and thickness. Years ago I bought a few when I saw the unique shape.

Note that the bur is FLAT on the bottom surface. The cutting flutes on the side of the cone extend to the edge of the bottom. When held at a 45 degree angle to the base line of the letters to be engraved, this flat edge emulates a chisel Calligraphy pen. As long as the position of the bur on the surface is at the 45 degree angle, strokes can be the same as a chisel pen doing any style with ink on paper.

If you do traditional broadpen Calligraphy, you'll fall in love with this bur. If broadpens are not in your life, the inverted cone will be a bit more challenging; it will not work for the Copperplate style of script you see on virtually all my other projects.

I charged just under $100. for the work on this one, done several years ago.

Remember connecting the dots in your life.....

-Ken