David Bright

Making a brush of the clipart patterns is the next step. What I am doing right now is making the building blocks for this. I have someone making vector cliparts of all the tools in the Tandy catalog. Tracing them manually so as to get as close to the real impression as possible. When this is done we will have set of digital tools that can be used to play with patterns. Any patterns that are created can then also be made into brushes for easy fills on selected areas. I am really excited about this and even more excited to show you all the work that comes out when I design the patterns and a talented tooler does them.

That's sort of the way I thought to do it. Except that we will recreate the impression using the curve tools in Corel Draw and then make sure it is the exact size of the original. This way it will act just like a stamp with no background to it and the color can be anything one wants. The example I gave above was done using an image from a website that I put into a trace program CorelTrace, and rendered after playing with the settings for a few minutes. It would be nice if that worked well but as you can see the resulting impression isn't really close to the real seashell impression. So the best way to do it is by hand which shouldn't take to long per for anyone who is pretty good with the curve tools in Corel or similar programs. Sooooooo - perhaps we could have a library here to post such images for others to use. No idea. I tried to attach a cmx file which is corel draw's clipart format and I couldn't. That's not a surprise because most forums don't allow much more than standard file formats. Anyway, thanks for the input. I'll see you all in a few weeks when I have accumulated some cliparts.

Actually all I am talking about is having cliparts that are done to the same size as a tool. Say that you have a basketweave impression tool where the size is 1/4x3/8ths. All I want is that impression as a digital file so I can use it to make a basketweave pattern on the computer. The tooler will still have to actually do the tooling with all the talent and skill that comes with it. All I do is suggest the pattern by being able to do it on the computer. I want to make sure that you understand that i am not talking about the patterns for the pieces but instead the paterns for decoration. Nor am I talking about things like floral carving. Just the stamping tools. here is an example of a something I did to illustrate the point. I traced a shell impression using the trace feature of Corel. As you can see it's not very good but it does make the point. The new image - the shell impression - can be now placed where ever I want in any direction. It can be stretched and skewed as well but I won't do that because it's important to work to exact sizes of the tools in order to give the toolers a pattern that they can reproduce accurately. They say everything is created twice - one in the mind and once in reality, but the mind comes first. Personally, I have more ideas than ability to fulfill them. My tooling skills are rudimentary because I don't have the patience it takes to master the intricacies. For some reason however the toolers I work with are often stymied for ideas when I challenge them to create for me. I look at their sets of tools and visions of cool patterns play in my mind like a movie. But when I try and draw it or convey it on paper to them it never comes out as clearly as I see it in my mind. I am thinking that this set of digital stamps so to speak would allow me the ability to show them exactly what I see. well, I guess that no one knows of any thing already existing, unless they exist as part of the software mentioned. So I am going to try and find some folks to take on the grunt work of converting the real impressions to digital form for us designers who can't stamp a straight line. Thank you all. No, I am talking about having the tool impressions as clipart files so that I can design stamping patterns on the computer. I use Corel Draw and what I would like to be able to do is to select from a set of digital stamps that correspond exactly to real stamps in order to design a pattern on my bags. Then I give the toolers the design and they then know what to do and can embellish it or modify it according to their particular interpretation of what I want.

Hello everyone, First let me start by buttering y'all up. I have browsed the forum looking for an answer to my question and found none - but I have seen some some nice work! So it was time well spent. Alright, my question; Does anyone know of vector cliparts of stamping tool impressions that can be used to make stamping designs on the computer? I am not a leather worker but I do make leather bags, that is to say that I design them and have them made. I work with four toolers who do really nice work but they are always asking me to come up with designs for the stamping patterns. I have taken a few impressions and made them into vector art and been able to come up with some pretty cool designs in a few minutes. But I shudder at thinking about doing this for the hundreds (thousands?) of tools out there. So I am looking for any repository to get the digital art for free or to buy. Otherwise, it's going to be a lot of time to create them... :-( so sad I know. Which brings me to the next part - IF there isn't anything like this now, do y'all think there is any interest in purchasing such a collection IF I were to make it? Thanks in advance for any response at all. Dave