“While I was in college, I wrote for a small motorcycle magazine and became enthralled with pinstriping and traditional hot rod arts, such as hand lettering, pinups and flame jobs,” she said. She shared with me, “Even as a kid, I always gravitated to the arts, sculpting, painting, drawing, as a diversion from the more systematic studies.” She seemed to always be walking on two sides of the line: one in her science world and one in the art world.
With a background in organismal biology and biochemistry, she considers herself a “nerd at heart.” Meet the Queen of Gun Engaving: Melissa McMinn The truth is, however, that the art is still very much alive and thriving in the hands of Melissa McMinn. To many, it is a lost art with very few current practitioners.
One of the classic methods of really dressing up a gun was engraving. While some see the addition of a paint job or different grips as an attempt to be unique in a pile of snow, it usually falls short. This brings us to gun engraving. There was a day when a person’s firearm was at least in some way modified to make it eye catching. This has not always been the case, however. They’re highly effective, reliable and functional, yet lack any real visual embellishment that would transform them from tools to art. They come out like widgets from a press: Black guns almost indistinguishable from one another.
