ABCs of Bright Cut Engraving

ENGRAVING THAT MAKES TACK SILVER AND JEWELRY COME ALIVE.

Learn Western bright cut engraving from the ground up.

Master the fundamentals of engraving with an instructor who strongly believes in building your engraving skills on a solid foundation. Start with the basics, build the skills, create work you're proud of.

Taught by Kelly McRae | Award-Winning, Western Bright Cut Engraver

Choose Your Level

WHY THIS COURSE

Engraving used to be a deeply guarded discipline. Kelly's changing that.

When Kelly started engraving in 1996, there were very few engravers in Canada—and even fewer willing to teach. The craft was secretive. Resources were scarce. The internet didn't exist.

With limited instruction, she blundered through for nearly a decade before having an educational opportunity present itself to advance her skills.

Now, she's teaching in a very methodical way: from the absolute beginning, with nothing held back.

This course gives you the foundation that Kelly strongly believes is the key to engraving success.

Equipment, gravers, sharpening, bright cuts, scrolls, flowers, and design. Everything you need to move forward in any style of engraving.

The fundamentals that unlock everything else:

Drawing Scrolls

Design and understand scrolls before you ever pick up a graver.
Engraving Scrolls

Turning your drawings into engraving.
Drawing & Engraving Flowers

Adding depth and detail to your work.
Combining Flowers and Scrolls

Bringing it all together into cohesive designs.
Basic Engraving Equipment

What you need and how to use it properly.
Intro to Gravers

Understanding the different types and when to use each one.
Sharpening Gravers

The skill that separates clean cuts from frustrating ones.
Wriggle Cuts & Bright Cuts

Triangular and curvature techniques—the building blocks.

I took the long road. You don’t have to.

What took me years to learn can come much faster when you focus on the basics and build a strong foundation—I just had to learn it the slow way.

The engraving world was highly guarded when I started; there were no books on the subject, no internet, and engravers were few and far between. My dad and I were both learning at the same time, stumbling through it together. I'd study any piece of engraving I could find, either in person or in magazines.

It took a TCAA scholarship in 2005—10 years in—to help me fill the gaps, rebuild my foundation, and move forward with clarity.

That's why I teach the way I do. I know what it's like to be lost. To know you need help and not know where to find it.

My goal is to give students a good foundation—solid basics that let them attend other workshops and actually absorb what's being taught because they're not struggling with fundamentals.

Engravers are now being faced with information overload, the exact opposite of what I had to deal with. It can be extremely overwhelming to navigate. But this course can help you forge through it all.

I want you to have what I didn't: a clear starting point.

— Kelly McRae

This course works whether you're brand new or building on basics.

Let's Talk Tools

What you'll need to get started

Engraving requires specific tools, but Kelly walks you through exactly what you need and why.

Gravers (37, 42 & 45 flat, 90 degree V graver, 1 round graver, 16/10 or 18/10 curved liner)
Engraving system (including hand piece and engraving block)
Sharpening system for gravers (including angle finder)
18g or 16g copper for practice
Sketch pad and pencil

Doer and Dedicated students receive the complete, detailed tools and resources list.