He’s only gone and done it again!
At Engravers Guild, we must profess our fandom for none other than the most mighty of engravers… Graham Short.
We’ve already written a number of articles on his creations which are renowned for being some of the smallest engravings ever made.
There was the inscription of “Impossible Is Nothing’ along the sharp edge of a razor blade, there was the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin, and last year there was a series of portraits on the new £5 notes which were invisible to the naked eye.
This time, he has retained the microscopic proportions and captured a day which warmed the hearts of millions across the globe – the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
On the top of a tiny gold needle, Mr Short engraved a portrait of the happy couple, complete with date and names.
To give an idea of small it is, the width of a human hair is about 100 microns, and the miniaturist engraver has been working to only four microns.
Such is the precision required to execute these works of art, Graham works only in the dead of night when traffic vibrations are at their lowest.
He takes beta blockers to slow his heart to 20 beats per minute, and then wears a stethoscope when working to ensure that he only draws a stroke between beats.
It’s a long process, taking months to create works of art that are so small they can only be viewed through a microscope.
Despite it sounding like a labour of love, the artist actually says: “It’s such a frustrating job and I really dislike doing it!”
Still it’s clear that people up and down the country love the results of his long hours.
This particular piece of work was commissioned by the THH Gallery in Kelso on the Scottish Borders, and we look forward to putting the personalised gifts to one side for the weekend as we leave to go and take a visit.