2nd Shot

"United States Constitution, Bill of Rights - Amendment II - a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"

I'd read about an American firearms collector who commissioned an engraver to placethename 'JamesMadison',thefourthpresidentoftheUnitedStatesandthe man responsible for introducing the 2nd Amendment, allowing Americans the right to bear arms, on the end of a collection of rare bullets.

This story inspired '2nd Shot', my self-induced task to engrave the full Bill of Rights, 2nd Amendment onto the end of a silver bullet.35 words and 161 letters would be quite impressive in itself. However, with all my projects the 'aim' is to achieve the unachievable. With this in mind I set myself the task of attempting to engrave the 2nd Amendment of the United States not on the flat end of the bullet, but within the circular, even smaller area of the Primer Pin, the point at which the firing pin of the gun strikes the bullet to fire it.

I shall always remember this job due to the disruptions I endured during many night's work. To produce pieces such as this requires that I have absolute silence in order for me to keep a low pulse rate, any interruptions will break my concentration and raise my heart beat. On numerous occasions a new team of Police, unused to my eccentric working hours and worried that the only workshop in the Jewelery Quarter with lights on was being raided, banged on the door at 03.00am. Not an environment conducive to producing pieces such as '2nd Shot'.The sense of achievement on completion of '2nd Shot' was immense. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this piece.