Securing Design for Tooling

[AndyL1]

Hey All,

What is a good way to keep your design from moving as you trace it down into the cased leather? I print my designs out on velum and place it on the leather but it tends to move as I trace over the lines. I tried taping the edges of the velum to the leather but after peeling the tape up there is a residue and it also messes up the smooth finish of the leather.

Edit: I am using the blue painters tape. Is there something with a lower tack that could work?

Thanks,

Andy

Edited April 10, 2009 by AndyL1

[Tkleather1]

I use my other hand to hold the patterns

[AndyL1]

yabbut... sometimes I need to turn the piece to draw the lines. How can I hold it securely on there and keep both hands free?

[Tkleather1]

one thing I have done in the past, I use packing tape alot to back my cased leather I sould leave the tape oversized and the pattern oversized so I could stick the pattern to the tape. But beware as it still has the ability to bubble up and move a little bit. that is why I now just use my hands. There will be way more proficient toolers chime in and be way more help thanI am

[CitizenKate]

What is a good way to keep your design from moving as you trace it down into the cased leather? I print my designs out on velum and place it on the leather but it tends to move as I trace over the lines. I tried taping the edges of the velum to the leather but after peeling the tape up there is a residue and it also messes up the smooth finish of the leather.

I've been sticking the "purple" painter's tape on leather for years, and it always comes up clean. It is less tacky than the blue painter's tape.

Another thing that might help. After you lay the vellum down, and before you begin tracing, take a scratch awl and poke holes through the vellum into the leather in several places outside the boundary of the pattern. This will create registration marks that you can use to re-align the pattern in case it moves while you're tracing.

Kate

[budd4766]

Have you tried taping to the back of the leather (when possible), and letting the film fold over?

Just a thought.

[Tstarsmith]

If the leather you are putting the design on has a stitch line or locations for snaps, conchos, or rivets, I use thumbtacks in those places to hold the tracing film in place. The tack holes in the leather are covered with stitches or metal in final assembly. I can't use it on every project, but it works well on the ones I can.

[TomSwede]

I use my other hand to hold the film down and I've learned how to follow the the pattern at all times without having to spin the project.

Tom

[Casey Jordan]

I sometimes tape the leather to my bench and use beanbags to hold down the (oversized) tracing paper. Or tape the velum to the bench too.

Hope this helps.

[AndyL1]

Thanks everyone for the excellent suggestions. I'm fairly new to tooling so I haven't quite figured out a good process, what works, what doesn't etc. I think the taping the excess velum to the backside sounds like a good way to go. I think on projects where my leather is larger than the velum I can tape on extensions to the velum and tape that to the back. When I get as good as Tom, maybe then I can let go of the tape and say "look Ma, no hands!"

I like Kate's method too of "printing" on the leather. That may help as well.

Cheers,

Andy