At midnight, when the city of Birmingham is asleep, 75-year-old Graham Short sits down in front of a medical-grade microscope. He takes a leather strap that’s tied to the heavy printing press behind him, wraps it around his elbow, and pulls as hard as he can so that his arm is completely still. Then, he waits.
Graham is a microscopic engraver, one of the world’s best. And what he’s waiting for is the perfect moment to make his first mark. But there’s no rush. In the five hours he spends working per night, he’ll only make seven or eight cuts.
In his hand is an engraver’s needle that’s embedded in a wooden handle. He’s filed the needle to such a fine point, that he can barely see the end with his naked eye. And through the microscope, his canvas is visible; a gold pinhead measuring 2mm across.
Graham begins work this late to avoid any disturbances from passing traffic. “When you’re looking through a microscope as powerful as the one I work with,” he explains, “the vibrations from a passing lorry would seem like an earthquake.”
He listens to his heartbeat through a stethoscope that’s taped to his chest. Because of the cocktail of potassium, magnesium, and beta-blockers that’s prescribed to him by a pharmacist, sometimes it only beats 20 times in the space of a minute. And when he eventually makes his first mark on the pinhead, it’ll be between the beats, when he’s at his most still.
“I always try to engrave on things that will make people appreciate how difficult it must be”
While Graham is best known for engraving all 66 words of the Lord’s prayer onto the head of a pin, pinhead’s aren’t that all he works on. Graham has also engraved phrases like ‘Nothing is Impossible’, ‘Out of the Darkness Cometh Light’, and Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ onto the sharp edges of razor blades.
He’s even engraved a portrait of the artist J.M.W Turner onto a tiny gold disc that was small enough to be placed inside of a hollowed-out dog’s hair.
Graham explains, “To put it into perspective for you, a human hair is typically 100 microns thick, and the lettering on the edge of a razor blade is six microns high. I always try to engrave on things that will make people appreciate how difficult it must be. For instance, I’ve also placed specks of gold into the eyes of needles and engraved on those.”
“I supplied all sorts of high profile clients, like Buckingham Palace and the House of Commons”
Graham wasn’t always a microscopic engraver. In fact, when he was 15, he left school with no qualifications and, as he describes, was “totally unprepared for working life.” But, driven by a confidence that he could make a living working with his hands, he began a six-year apprenticeship at his local printworks, where he learned to hand-engrave copper plates that were used to make letterheads and wedding invitations.
Upon completing his apprenticeship, Graham struck out on his own – and what followed was an illustrious career in the stationery trade. “Most of my work as a stationery engraver was letterheads,” Graham tells us. “I supplied all sorts of high-profile clients. For instance, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, the House of Commons, Harrods, Fortnum and Mason’s, and all of the London investment banks.”
Though unfortunately, a few decades ago, Graham started to notice a change in the industry. “I could see that the demand for hand-engraved stationery was dwindling, which is a shame because it’s beautiful. But that’s the way of the world and I’ve got to accept it.”
However, Graham did more than accept it. Instead, he adapted, using his engraving skills to forge a new career as an artist.
“When I first started, there was a lot of trial and error involved”
“In the beginning, I was hopeless,” Graham tells us. “I’d been trying to engrave The Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin for 40 years or so, on and off. Initially, I was engraving on Steel dress pins, which are hard and brittle, and I kept slipping. Now, the jewellers in the jewellery quarter where I work make me gold pins, which are soft and easy to cut into.
“When I first started, there was a lot of trial and error involved. I’d begin at one end of the pin and when I got to the other end, I’d realise that I was halfway through a word. And if I got to the bottom, more often than not, I’d find that I still had six lines of lettering to go.
“Nowadays, I sketch every project out beforehand. I’ve just finished engraving an image of the Golden Temple of Amritsar on the head of a pin. And with that one, the sketch alone took me four or five weeks. But it’s worth putting in the effort so I know where the lines are.”
After four decades of trying, in 2012, Graham finally finished his engraving of The Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin and put it up for show in a local art gallery in Birmingham. This was where his future manager first saw his work and asked him if he’d like to produce a few more items.
“So, we got seven or eight more items finished, put them into an exhibition in Lancashire, and they sold out. It was unbelievable”, says Graham.
“I didn’t achieve much when I was younger, especially when it came to school. So I want to achieve now. I want to be the best at whatever I do”
Since his first show, Graham estimates that he’s completed around 58 microscopic engravings. And although he makes it clear that he feels fortunate to be able to make a living with this work – especially since the hand-engraved stationery business isn’t what it used to be – it’s obvious that, for him, it’s not about the money…
Graham explains, “I think I’m drawn to projects that’ll impress people. And I think that’s down to the fact that I didn’t achieve much when I was younger, especially when it came to school. So I want to achieve now. I want to be the best at whatever I do.”
And achieve he has. Not only is Graham one of the best microscopic engravers in the world, but he’s also a competitive swimmer. And just as with his engraving career, his most impressive aquatic accomplishments have occurred in later life.
In 2001, when Graham was in his mid-50s, he set a new record at the European Masters Championships in Mallorca when competing in the 200 metres butterfly. And in 2016, he set another European record for the 1500 metres freestyle in his 70-74 age group.
“I get botox injections around my eyes. This makes sure that there’s no distraction from eye nerves and muscles when I’m working.”
“A lot of it is down to luck”, Graham says, talking about his micro-engravings. “I’m lucky that, for whatever reason, I’ve been given the gift. I’m not sure I have the gift of a beautiful singing voice like Ronan Keating, but I have the ability to scratch designs onto tiny bits of metal.”
Graham attributes his achievements to luck, but after hearing about the agonising process he goes through to create his art – the late nights, the hours of stillness – we’re not so sure…
“It’s a stressful process. I don’t actually enjoy doing it. For me, the pleasure comes at the end, when it’s in an art gallery and people look through the microscope and can see it clearly and say ‘Oh my goodness.’ When I hear that reaction, I get a real boost. But the process itself is very difficult because I slip frequently and have to re-polish and start again. And if I’ve been working on a job for two months or so, and I slip near the end…”
Graham trails off. He’s evidently thinking about all the times he’s slipped, micrometres (literally) away from the finish line.
Then he continues, “The first razor blade I did took me nine months. The reason for that is that I kept slipping off the blade. I went through about a hundred of them. I also kept cutting my fingers, which became infected. I’d have to rest until my fingers healed and then I’d cut them again. It was an absolute nightmare.
“I’ve done around 58 pieces and there’s only one I’ve never slipped on. That was a job I did for Stephen Fry. He wanted a fountain pen engraved to sell at an auction to raise money for charity.”
But all of the slips and blunders have only made Graham more determined, as he goes to unbelievable extremes to create his art…
“I also get botox injections around my eyes. This makes sure that there’s no distraction from eye nerves and muscles when I’m working. I’ve still got the wrinkles, though,” he laughs. “It’s an obsession, it really is. I appreciate it’s not normal and I don’t think anybody else would want to do it.”
“I appreciate how lucky I am and I shall keep going as long as I can”
And although Graham has achieved so much, he’s showing absolutely no signs of slowing down.
He says, “It’s probably in my genes. My mother lived to be a hundred years and one month old, and she worked right up until then – doing her own cooking, cleaning, and decorating. I know many people look forward to retirement and slowing down, and that’s ok, I have no problem with that – especially if someone has an unfulfilling job. But I can’t see retirement being any more exciting than the lifestyle I have now.
“I absolutely love doing my work, going to art galleries and selling it, travelling around the country and giving talks. I appreciate how lucky I am and I shall keep going as long as I can.”
If you’d like to find out more about Graham Short and his work, then why not visit his website here? Or, to read more inspiring stories, head over to the personal stories section of our site.
Disclaimer: Although Graham goes to extreme lengths to produce his art, such as taking beta-blockers and receiving botox injections, he does so at his own risk. We do not recommend trying anything like this without consulting your GP.