Beginning a titanium keytag in Japanese shishiaibori style, with very deep outlines and 3d sculpting inside. The top left image shows jus a bit of the first cutting with a wide “V” graver, the middle is twice around with decreasingly narrow “V” gravers, and the bottom right image shows all of the outlines at full depth, and beginning to sculpt the head.
The technique starts out with a very deep outline (takes me three times around with three different gravers to get deep enough, and heavily cutting each time). Then, the inside edges are carefully carved back, rounding them over to achieve a 3D look. Obviously, you need to have steeper sides in some areas, and shallower sides in others to achieve the 3D look.
The main point is there is no background removal, as in normal US and European engraving, and all of the design is at or below the surface, so wear and tear on the engraving should be less of a concern.
Above
, the keytag in various states of in-progress and finished.
The complete titanium (grade 2 Ti) keytag in Japanese shishiaibori technique (carved completely below the surface).
Thanks for looking!