San Carlos border

[ta2r]

I was curious about the best way to layout and space the stamp, and the distance between the border lines on the san carlos border design. I looked at a tutorial that Steve Mason has on his saddle blog, on some cuffs that he made, which by the way were beautiful, and inspiring. So I took some time and experimented with using a wing divider to make the spacing marks but the marks are noticable, and on Steve's blog I can't figure out how he does this so precise. Any info would be very appreciated. Thank you.

hideta2r

[barra]

I too studied Steve's blog when first trying this stamp. I find I get the best results if I lay out the borders the length of the tool plus about a third. I then cut the borders and stamp one complete row (not alternating side to side). I start by forming the corners so you get that sort of heart shaped pattern going and then start in the centre and make one impression. Measure from one of the corner impressions to the centre one and stamp in the middle of the two. Keep dividing the distance between impressions. Once I have gone round completely, I stamp the opposing side in the middle of the opposite row.

I have found this helps me with spacing and avoids having to fudge in the last couple of impressions on a row. I'd be interested in how others do it.

Barra

[steve mason]

ta2r;

In the next couple days I will stamp a little practice piece and post it here to help explain a little better of how I run the carlos border stamp.