I've finished the engraving for the penultimate section on the enamel cross. It's looking good! The twirly bits on this section were a bit tricky, those inside curves are really hard to get nice and clean cuts on.

Here's some photos on the progress of this section:

Here's the piece mounted in a low melting-point plastic, stuck onto a block of wood and put in the vice (The red coffee mug is a present from Taiwan, I love it and it keeps my coffee warm for ages!):

After a bit it looks like this. All of the design outline is engraved with a detailing 96 degree point graver. I aim to do a light cut to start with in case I make any mistakes. In this shot I'm also starting to remove some of the background, for which I use a flat graver. The circular plant pattern around the omega was cut out with a knife-edge graver.

Here's the finished engraving, with a bit of blackened background so the design is easier to see:

The section with it's adjacent piece:

 

On the design the alpha and omega are very important, in Christian art they symbolise the span of time. Alpha being the start of the Greek alphabet and omega being the end, the message being that God transcends time. I didn't want to overshadow the symbols so I wasn't too sure about the background to the omega. On paper I've put a design which is based on a reference from the book, shown below the next image:

the green and white Fleur-de-lis with green cross-pattern here:

So I did a quick sample to test how it would look just focusing on the centre of the circular section:

Here's a shot of the engraving in action, I've found old Marigold gloves quite useful for protecting against sore fingers!

Here's the finished sample, with some blackening in the recesses to pick out the design:

Putting the sample next to the section piece I'm pretty sure it would make the section look too busy. There's a lot of design going on in this section already and, I think, anything else would swamp the focus away from the omega.

I can always add extra design later if, after the enamelling, it's clear that something extra is required.