Basket Stamping

[JakeT]

Hi , I'm new here and work on a ranch in S.E Montana. My question is this, How do I get the basket stamp strait? Is there a trick to lining up the stamper? Thanks for the help.

[royslsbry]

What I do is I take a ruler and my stylus and I make a straight line which ever way I want the basket weave to run. You can make a grid if necessary. I mark my stamp also on one end to make sure my stamp is always going the same direction. Some stamps if you turn them around for some reason they don't connect good. Take your time and practice. Some times it helps to make a light tap first on your stamp and then a hard hit. When I was learning a found that this helped me to keep the stamp from moving. When I would hit the stamp hard the first time I would be holding the stamp tight and worrying about keeping it straight. I would then make a miss lick on the stamp with the hammer and cause the stamp to slide or walk over. And then it was all out of line. Also is if you make a light hit and pick up the stamp you can see if its connected good and straight.If not just move your stamp making it straight and have another try at it.This helped me to learn where to hold the stamp to keep it straight and where it need to be to connect good . Once you learn where the stamp needs to be placed it won't take long and you will have the hang of it.Practice and take your time.

[TwinOaks]

Here's the forum for stamping: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showforum=17

There are several tutorials listed there (see 'pinned' topics).