Firearms, Knives, Jewelry, Wildlife and Hunting Scene, Script and Block Lettering, Precious Metal Inlay, and Engraving Restoration.
Please Note; I Have a New Address
15323 E. 10th Ave., Aurora, Colo. 80011
John Todd
15323 E. 10th Ave.
Aurora, Colo. 80011
303-718-2550
E-mail: john@johntoddengraving.com
Philosophy of Art
Artifacts Of Joy.
I have a very old and traditional view of art. I do not try to make some esoteric statement with my engraving. I am an artist in the archaic sense of the ’smiths and craftsmen – gold, silver, and black smiths, gunsmiths, shipwrights, saddlers, watchmakers, armors, sculptors… I aim to make tools that function well, are a pleasure to use, experience, touch, behold, and admire.
Grace Notes
Engraving is a type of ornament. It is not decoration. It’s embellishment. Architecture is like music, and a gun or knife, or watch, is like a building. A tool. There are warehouses and cathedrals. There are meat cleavers and eighteenth century samurai swords. There is Yankee Doodle and The 1812 Overture. Ornament is “an embellishing note not belonging to the essential harmony or melody” – fioritura, a grace note – “a useful accessory.” That note without which the music would not stir so gently or move so powerfully.
Complexity should not be confused with profundity.
There are Doric columns and Corinthian. There are pieces that call for Rococo-ion intertwining vines, patterns and fanciful figures inlayed with multiple precious metals. But more often a simple border or a leaf in the corner will turn the box into a house or a pocketknife into a memento. It should only be added if it contributes. It should not be left out if it brings joy.
For a good piece to be a masterpiece the quality of the individual elements must not only be high themselves but must also contribute to the overall effect. They must be appropriate. Sometimes elegant whisper, sometimes joyous yawp.
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