Interview with DaVinci by iCE Staff for iCE PACK 12/2002
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iCE: Tell us a bit about yourself. First name, age, hobbies, etc.

DaVinci: My name is Sam, and I'm 50 years old.  I have quite a few hobbies
         and interests, including graphics (of course), metal working and
         engraving, ham radio, music, photography, computers, and more.  I
         played music professionally for nine years, and play bass and
         guitar, but my main axe is 5-string bluegrass banjo.  I also teach
         banjo.

iCE: How long have you been a member of iCE?

DaVinci: I think I joined in 1998. That sounds about right.

iCE: Where are you from? Have you lived anywhere else?

DaVinci: I live in rural Louisiana and have lived in Michigan, Maryland,
         Florida, and Georgia.

iCE: What do you do for a living?

DaVinci: I'm a hand engraver by profession.  I've been engraving longer
         than my iCE members have been alive ;)  I also teach 6 one-week
         engraving classes a year in Kansas.  When I'm not engraving here
         in my own studio or teaching classes, I'm probably at a jewelry
         show demonstrating engraving and diamond setting techniques.  I've
         worked in Switzerland, China, Italy, Hong Kong, and in 2003 I'll
         be in Japan and Thailand as well as shows here in the USA.

iCE: We understand you've had some success at that.  You've had some of
     your works on the cover of magazines?

DaVinci: In Feb. 1984 a set of guns I engraved were on the cover of
         American Rifleman magazine.  My work's been in books and magazines
         for many years.  I'm very fortunate to have studied under two of
         the world's best hand engravers.

iCE: You played music professionally for 9 years? Can you tell us about 
     that?

DaVinci: My band was together for 9 years, and we started out playing
         hardcore traditional bluegrass music.  Back in 1973 when we
         started, bluegrass was the rage and we had all the work we could
         take.  Then it slowly faded from popularity and we changed gears
         and did country, progressive country, and even some cajun/zydeco
         music.  I played banjo the first 4 years and electric bass the
         last 5 years we were together.  Since we played in very popular
         clubs in New Orleans, I had the opportunity to jam with some
         interesting people.  A couple of names I can drop are John
         Belushi, who sang with us every night for a week around 1975, and
         Peter Townsend of The Who.  There are others, but those two are
         memorable.

         I got very serious with my engraving hobby and when the band
         parted ways in 1982, I began working full time as a hand engraver.
         I was "discovered" you might say, by a wealthy gun collector in
         New Orleans who liked my work and thought I had potential.  He
         employed me for 7 years to engrave his personal gun collection.
         He sent me to Italy to study under the best engraver there, and I
         also studied under another engraver here in the USA who was
         considered one of the best in the world.  My employer was a patron
         to the arts.  He never demanded anything but my very best work,
         and I was never under any time constraints to complete jobs.  I
         had the security of a weekly paycheck and complete artistic and
         creative freedom to develop my skills.  In other words, I hit the
         engraver's lottery.  I've been extremely fortunate, and I never
         take that for granted.

iCE: You've done engraving work for kings and princes as well, right?

DaVinci: No kings or princes.  I did a job for the president of Turkey, and
         I've done work that's gone to famous people.  I cater to advanced
         collectors who appreciate engraving as an art, and not just
         something that takes up space.

iCE: Can you tell us anything about doing engraving?  How do you generally
     plan it out, and what materials are used?  How long does it take to do
     the job, and what makes one job more laborious than another?

DaVinci: In a nutshell, engraving is simply using a small chisel called a
         graver.  Traditionally, the graver is either pushed by hand or
         driven with small hammer called a chasing hammer.  I engraved with
         hammer & chisel for many years, but now I use a pneumatic
         handpiece the propels the tool like a tiny jackhammer.  It's still
         guided freehand and the graver itself is still the same.  The
         length of time can be anywhere from a few minutes to a few months.
         Like graphics, it depends on the complexity of the design.  Some
         of my higher-end gun jobs have taken a year to complete, while
         smaller jobs on custom knives may take a few weeks.  Scroll
         designs go a bit faster than portraits and scenes, and inlaid gold
         slows down the process quite a lot.

         I also engrave jewelry.  Everything from simple lettering tasks to
         complex designs done in deep, sculpted relief.  However, I'm best
         known for the high-end type of work, and that's the bulk of my
         business.

iCE: What training did you have before you started engraving?  You said you
     learned from two of the world's best hand engravers - how did you get
     there, since I assume that's what set you up for the success you have
     found?

DaVinci: I was self-taught prior to my engraving training.  I've not had
         any art training of any kind. What little I do know was learned
         on-the-fly.  Graphics are a great creative release for me,
         especially since I can work in color.  That might sound odd, but
         as an engraver, color is not an option.  We simply incise designs
         into metal.  The only exception would be the addition of inlaid
         gold or silver. 

         My first graphics were done with Windows Paint back when
         Windows 3.0 came out.  From there I used a program called Tempra
         (something).  Can't remember the name, but it was an incredible
         256 colors!  I fooled with that a bit, then discovered Autodesk
         3D Studio for DOS.  I did 3D animations for software companies...
         mostly spinning logos for the old DOS program spash screens.  In
         those days that was considered some pretty spectacular stuff.  Now
         days you can find shareware or freeware that does the same thing
         effortlessly.

         I tend to approach graphics with the same precision as my
         engraving.  I like sharp, crisp detail.  This is just my style and
         what I like best.  I don't always achieve my goal, but I have fun
         trying.

iCE: If you could be doing anything right now professionally, other than
     engraving, what would you do?

DaVinci: That's a difficult question.  I love my work as much as I love my
         hobbies.  I could be content being a logo designer or something.
         It would be great to paint the fun stuff that you see on my
         website and get paid for it.  I just paint what pleases me and was
         never concerned whether anyone else liked it or not.  Apparently
         some don't because I have a collection of email from people
         telling me how much I suck, and that I'm not an artist, and blah
         blah.  I just laugh it off and am amused by it.  My work gets
         ripped off frequently, too.  People are always emailing me telling
         me someone's ripped my artwork and modified it for use on their
         website.  I get an average of 2 or 3 reports per month.  Some have
         even removed my signature and one guy won contests with my work.
         I think some of the things I do lend themselves well to ripoffs,
         since I frequently do detailed frameworks which are then gutted
         and changed to suit the person taking them.  Such is life I guess.
SAUCE00Interview with DaVinci             iCE Staff           iCE Advertisements  20021231"   P                              