Best Carbon Paper For Leather

[charlescrawford]

I am fairly new to leatherwork. What is a good brand of carbon paper to use? I got the Office Max brand today and it sucks big time I can barely make out the lines. I find drawings I was to try to carve and then I resize it in Photoshop to the size of the piece I am working on. Then I put carbon paper under the sketch and trace over it. What are good brands to use?

Anyone know of any good free/cheap sources for patterns to tool and carve?

Thanks

Charles

[electrathon]

You do not want carbon paper. You wet the leather and trace the pattern just as if you had carbon paper. The damp leather will "dent" with the tracing. Cut on those lines.

Aaron

[Beaverslayer]

Charles,

First off, welcome to the forum.

Rather than printing out your design, then using carbon paper (which is a bad idea) get some Overhead Projector Film from any office supply store. These days they are all made to be able to print on. Then you can use a stylus (pointy end) and transfer your design that way to your project. Just remember..printed side up when transferring, and be sure your leather is cased first.

You can use the same piece of film again should you so need to.

[charlescrawford]

Thanks guys for all the comments. I looked into projector film today at office depot wow is it expensive! I am going to look at target and walmart here if not Amazon. I tried to cast the leather then trace the pattern paper I was trying to press hard and I just couldn't see the marks underneath as all. I am a MS patient and I guess seeing faint lines aren't something my eyes are good at anymore. I am hoping the projector film will leave lines I can see.

[electrathon]

It is best to have 3 lamps when tooling. One overhead and two desk lamps, one on each side. This helps a lot by eliminating shadows and dim areas.

[Beaverslayer]

I was given a product today by an airbrush artist. It's a film paper that has a "washable" transferable ink of some kind on it, comes in 5 colors. He uses it to transfer drawings onto painted surfaces to outline where to airbrush.

I'm going to try it out tomorrow on leather and see how it works. I'm thinking it is going to work real good. I'll post tomorrow my results.

[charlescrawford]

Might have to look into lights. Right now my work space is the kitchen island then all my outline swivel knife cutting and stamping is done with a piece of granite I put in my lap to watch tv...lol

Let us know how that "washable" paper works out. If it works will it be available here in the states?

[Beaverslayer]

Yes, it is made in New York. It is also erasable with an eraser, now that I remember what I read on the package.

I'll be sure to give it a go tomorrow.

And doing stamping with your granite on your lap, does not provide enough "solidness" under the granite to properly stamp...too much bounce in the flesh. I have an oak bar stool that I put a piece of granite on when I want to watch TV at the same time.

[charlescrawford]

I am learning as I go here. I needed something to do with my time and something that would for e me to use my hands and help with strength and dexterity. So I gave this a try and loved it. I am self taught with the help of you tube. I have yet to meet anyone here in town that does leather working. I would love in time to learn how to make saddles and chaps etc

[Beaverslayer]

Well, we tried out that paper I was telling you about. It's called Saral Transfer Paper, and is made in the USA. Here's a link to there website, you can even order a sample pack that they will send you as long as you send them a 45 cent stamp.

http://www.saralpaper.com/products.html

Okay, here's pictures of what I did. As far as I can tell, there is no adverse effects whatsoever to the leather when using this stuff. It transferred onto the leather real easily while the leather was dry. Before I cased the leather, I tried to erase it with a "White" eraser, and it came off quite well.

After I cased the leather, the design was still very visible and had not washed away in any spots.

After cutting and tooling (just some quick tooling) there is no hint of the transferred image that I could see. Even if there is any left, this product is meant to be painted over without any adverse effects, as it is a "Non Wax" material.

Here's pics....

We also think this may help us to "Tattoo" leather more easily. We are going to try that again next week.

[charlescrawford]

Sweet! I will look at Hobby Lobby and Michaels for this stuff tomorrow. Thank you so much for this info. Can't wait to see what you work on with it for later this week !

[Sylvia]

Charles: I do prefer clear vs opaque paper. Placement is much more easy with clear. I do not use the transparencies. I use those clear sheet protectors. They can be opened to allow for larger designs and if you want you can slide your opaque paper design right into them and trace through all three layers (I don't do this)

Anyway I use my monitor as a light box... Size up or down on the computer then trace from the monitor onto the plastic with a sharpie. If I need a longer or bigger design than my monitor allows, I just make note of a reference mark and move the design around until it lines up. EASY. Then once the leather is CASED... I place my piece secure it (sometimes with push pins if the designs allow.... and trace with a stylus or you could use a spent ball point pen.

[charlescrawford]

I just got a stylus yesterday that has made things so much easier. I also got some Saral paper at JoAnn Fabrics and that stuff rocks. It is a type of transfer paper that can be reused and comes in different colors which is nice. I use white for black leather for instance. Now I just have to do some carving and get things with that figured out. I have yet to do a pattern and bevel it in a way I like. The beveler and pear shader hate me lol