Uniform Stamping With Geometrics

[Bob Blea]

Maybe a fence would work, use it on each row.

Another thing, the leather might not be square, measure corner to corner across the leather and also check corner to corner on your border.

I like the idea of a fence or guide for each row. I have a clear plastic ruler I could put along side under my shot bag to help keep the spacing orderly. I also bought the craftaid grid this weekend, but haven't had a chance to try it yet. I'll give these methods a try and report back.

Thanks all for the help!

Bob

[Bob Blea]

So, I've been busy with other projects and am only getting back to trying some of these suggestions. Today I tried the Tandy Geometric Stamping tool craft aid. The 1/2" grid was closest to the size of my larger stamp which is 3/8" square. Unfortunately it isn't quite big enough to work with this stamp:

It was off just a little bit, so I can't make the stamp line up when filling up the whole pattern. If you are only stamping the intersections, like the middle of the picture shows, it will probably work. But the effect I'm working towards is what is shown on the left.

I then tried using the 3/8" grid and stamping inside the grid. It worked pretty well and was a good reference gird, but if you make impression with the craft aid too deep the lines of the grid will show up between the stamps. However, I could stamp this quicker than just doing it by eye:

As the bottom of the picture shows, the 3/8" grid is too close for stamping right on the intersections.

I'll try some of the other suggestions and post anything that looks promising,

Bob

[Tree Reaper]

Hey Bob, did you measure it to see if was square to begin with?

[shtoink]

I have been thinking about this one for a while and the idea of a fence is good, but leaves part of your work obstructed and it might accidentally get bumped out of alignment. What I came up with was using a string...

Let me elaborate on that. If you have a piece of plywood under your granite slab, a pair of nails with a string teid between them would give you your straight line. Maybe a pair of parallel strings could give you a track to work down and the slab or your work piece can be repositioned as needed to start a new row. This way you have your guide, it's unobtrusive, adjustable, and it doesn't block any work area.

The real question is, how well will this idea work. I came up with the idea while laying in bed rereading the thread, so if it doesn't work, please don't hold it against me.

[Bob Blea]

Hey Bob, did you measure it to see if was square to begin with?

Do you mean the stamp? If so, yes it is square and the impression is symmetrical.

Bob

[Bob Blea]

I have been thinking about this one for a while and the idea of a fence is good, but leaves part of your work obstructed and it might accidentally get bumped out of alignment. What I came up with was using a string...

Let me elaborate on that. If you have a piece of plywood under your granite slab, a pair of nails with a string teid between them would give you your straight line. Maybe a pair of parallel strings could give you a track to work down and the slab or your work piece can be repositioned as needed to start a new row. This way you have your guide, it's unobtrusive, adjustable, and it doesn't block any work area.

The real question is, how well will this idea work. I came up with the idea while laying in bed rereading the thread, so if it doesn't work, please don't hold it against me.

Actually maybe you don't have a bad idea. It made me think of some sort of jig that would help you align each row. It made me think of those cutting guides they sell at fabric stores. You've got my inner McGuyver thinking....

Bob

[Tree Reaper]

Do you mean the stamp? If so, yes it is square and the impression is symmetrical.

Bob

No, I mean your leather project.

The tool is square, the sides of the leather may be the same length but if they aren't square then there's no way a square tool can end up square on the last line of a piece of leather that isn't square.

Measure corner to corner on your project, both measurements should be equal.

In this diagram you would measure corner to corner on the blue line and corner to corner on the red line.

Both lines must be exactly equal length with each other, if they aren't then your pattern will never be square on the leather.

Your geo pattern I suspect is square but the leather isn't square with the geo pattern and that's most likely your problem.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Tree Reaper

[Bob Blea]

Hi Tree Reaper,

Now I understand and what you say makes perfect sense. Yes, I do make sure that I have defined a squared up boundry for the stamping. You probably can't see it in the picture but there is a fine running across the top of those stamps on the right side of the design that is the border. As the stamping moved to the left, the minor little errors when stamping each stamp caused a slight spread that began compounding itself with each succesive row, and the stamps started ending creeping outside the border on each row. That creeping on each row is what I'm trying to eliminate.

Bob

[mlapaglia]

No he meant the leather. Is the area you want to stamp square to itself?

[Bob Blea]

No he meant the leather. Is the area you want to stamp square to itself?

Yes, I am defining a rectangular area in the leather that is square, and the leather is backed by packing tape so it doesn't stretch. I'm only using the stamp in that rectangular area, which is the back cover of a notebook. I don't use the edges of the leather as a guide at all. I define the space I want to fill with the stamp (either basket weave or geometric) on the piece of leather and make sure my area to be stamped is square.

Bob