Alternatives To Tandy Tracing Film?

[Urshag]

Does anyone know of a less expensive substitute for Tandy's Tracing Film? I like the properties of the tracing film, but it's a bit pricey for me. There must be some other film or plastic sheeting out there that can be bought for a cheaper price, maybe in bulk or something?

If you know of anything please let me know!

Dennis Green

[TwinOaks]

You can buy tracing paper at Walmart....you can also buy transparency film there, too. Either should be a good substitute.

[TigerPal]

I got a large amount of acetate film free from a printing plant. They use it as spacer/protector between photographic plates in storage, and usually just discard it when done. A bonus (to me at least) is that its lightly frosted on both sides, so I can trace or draw directly on it.

[Spinner]

Freezer paper from the grocery store is fairly cheap and works well.

[Randy Cornelius]

You can use tracing paper to draw your patterns then cover the tracing paper with clear shelf paper from discount store. It holds up really well and you can use it over and over to trace the patterns onto leather. I also like to use clear shelf paper sometimes instead of glueing down the leather to plexiglass. I find a lot of uses for the clear shelf paper, it's like a clear plastic film with adhesive back.

RC

[drphil]

Does anyone know of a less expensive substitute for Tandy's Tracing Film? I like the properties of the tracing film, but it's a bit pricey for me. There must be some other film or plastic sheeting out there that can be bought for a cheaper price, maybe in bulk or something?

If you know of anything please let me know!

Dennis Green

I got some tracing paper from Hobby Lobby and it works ok as long as the leather is not too wet. If the leather is too wet the tracing paper will start to curl and get wavy. Not sure why it does this, but might be something you want to be aware of. It totally messes up the pattern and things never go on right. So, I am still looking for better options myself. Maybe just some plain old wax paper that is used for cooking?

[King's X]

I buy my velum in notebook pack of 50 (8x11) for about $7 at Office Max. It is a product that is made by Helix. What I like about it is that I can also print on it for fonts or other logo type art. I know that Hidecrafter's used to sell loose tracing paper in packs, but I have no idea if this is still so.

Good luck.

[klint fluitt]

if you use a printer a lot use the plastic in between the paper. All I have ever been known to use

[Urshag]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I like the shelf paper idea as well. If I have any more questions I'll be coming back here.

Dennis

[Doots]

Hidecrafters still sells the product that King's X spoke of above.