As stated earlier in the introduction to "The Almighty Acanthus Leaf," I stated that I had found little information on this sanctioned leaf. This page, which documents the first step in making the acanthus leaf, starts by showing Max Metzer's illustration of the leaf, followed by an actual photograph which I downloaded from the "Flora of Europe" web page. The other individual figures of tools used to make the leaf were found in Ernst Schwarzkopf's Plain and Ornamental Forging book.

The only other information which I found on the ornamental use of the acanthus leaf from the Internet was a glossary term which helped me to understand the history of this sensuous leaf.

The Acanthus (Akanthos) leaf comes from the Acanthus spinosus plant and was introduced as ornamentation in ancient Greek architecture. A classic design used by the Greeks and Romans, it appears in Gothic art and architecture, and it was revived during the Renaissance. The Greek design has pointed leaf edges, but the Roman version is rounded and broader with vigorous curves. In Byzantine and Romanesque decoration, the acanthus is stiffer and less delicate. It becomes rounded and more bulbous in the early Gothic period, then becomes bizarre with long thistle-like foliage in the late Gothic period. With the Renaissance, the acanthus and tendril motif reaches its highest degree of refinement and elegance.

This made me realize that there are many ways to represent the acanthus leaf and it is up to the craftsman's vision of what form the leaf will ultimately have. I digitized the template from Max Metzer's, "Modellbuch Fur Kunstschlosser, Einfaches Akanthusblatt" which was in the 10th Anniversary Issue of The Anvil's Ring. This issue reprinted the complete Pattern book for Artsmiths which had been stored for many years in the Samual Yellin Library. The template was output with 150% scale increase to a plotter which has the additional ability to cut stencils. This made it easier to just peel and stick the pattern onto 18 gauge sheet brass.

With Ernst Schwarzkopf's Plain and Ornamental Forging book in one hand and a test pattern in the other, I began to reproduce these time honored tools. During the testing process I noticed that the lower larger set of lobes were too large for the form which I was trying to achieve and corrected it by cutting off the excess and transferring the modifications to the other leaves which had not yet been worked (see 2nd image on left).

After going through the complete process on my test piece, I realized that there is a definite procedure to follow in making the acanthus leaf. The general approach to cold forming with the sinking process is to start working the piece from the outside with the proper tools, and progressively work towards the center.

So, lets get on with sinking those curvaceous lobes.