How Do You See?

[bizbeblu]

I remember when growing up my granddad use to say, "Nothing wrong with my eyes, it's just that my arms have gotten too short." I wrote it off as old folk talk, but while I'd never admit to being old, it does appear that my arms have shrunk

I have good light at my work bench including an overhead arm ring lamp so the work area is well lit. My problem seems to be - particularly when working a repetitive pattern like a basket weave - getting the foot to fit precisely in the previously stamped mark. It's clear that the edges of the tool (I'm using nothing but Craptools) are larger than the pattern itself. My hand holding the tool and the mallet cast a shadow so that it is hard to get a clear view of where to anchor the tool and how to see that it is lined up correctly on the other end. I've tried using one of those magnifying eye shades which doesn't seem to help. Trying to line up only from the side doesn't seem to work, so how do you folks see where the tool is on the work piece? I do understand that a perfect basket weave is a Carnage Hall sort of thing (practice, practice, practice), but even after doing a lot of it I seem to be struggling with actually seeing where I'm stamping.

Any thoughts or descriptions of how you do it, greatly appreciated.

Robert

[Bob Blea]

Hi Robert,

Speaking as one of those with shrinking arms, I can understand what your dealing with. A couple of suggestions. Move your overhead lamp so it is located behind your head and (if you are right handed) to your left, so the light can get in under the hand holding the stamp. On occasion, I have used a led light on a headband to get light right on the tool so I can see exactly where it goes. I do this when I have a stamp (like a box stamp) that is really tricky to line up, when I'm making my very first row of angled basket weaves, etc.

When you are making a row of basket stamps, how do you orient yourself to the stamp and the row you are stamping? I try to always orient my work piece so I can see the longest side of the basket weave stamp but also see the short end. I place the stamp, and then take a good look at how it is oriented compared to the one next to it (on the side) and the one behind it. If I like the way it sits, then I hit it, otherwise I try to tweak it a bit till the angles look right. I'm not very fast this way, but I can usually get a big basket weaved area to look straight.

Another thing I suggest, don't completely overlap the legs of the basket stamp with the previous stamp. I don't know a good way to describe this, so I drew a crude picture:

This shows the second stamp (in red) spaced just a bit away from the center bar of the basket weave. This gives you some wiggle room as you stamp, so you don't end up having your rows of stamps compressing in on each other. If you try to put the end of the leg of the next stamp right up against the bar, you will end up having rows that are too tight and won't fit. It's just not humanly possible to stamp that precisely. The little extra allowance lets you adjust things if you start getting out of alignment or get too close together, and stop it before it becomes a problem. It's your room for error. The trick is to always try and stamp with that same little bit of extra allowance. Hope this makes sense.

Also, when I first start off making that first row of any kind of geometric stamp, I take lots of time and make sure that row is straight. I always have a guideline down on the leather as a reference, and I make sure that first row lines up it as perfectly as I can. That first row will be a baseline I reference all other stamps to, so I want it to be a good as I can get it. As I work, I take a break and look the whole thing over again, and sometimes put a straight edge down so I can accurately tell how I'm doing. If I am getting wavy, I try to use my wiggle room (as mentioned above) to straighten it back out. I haven't quite mastered that yet, but I'm getting there.

Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have questions. This can be a really hard thing to do and make it look good.

Bob

Edited May 31, 2013 by Bob Blea

[WyomingSlick]

For lighting the leathercraft work area I suggest a couple of flourescent lights, one placed to each side so that there are no shadows. Think something like a photographer's studio. You may even want to put up some white posterboards to reflect the light towards your work area if you have dark walls that don't reflect the light well.

Edited June 1, 2013 by WyomingSlick

[electrathon]

Three lights. Overhead florescent on the ceiling. Two arm lights shining in from the sides.

[bizbeblu]

Somehow I missed the replies to my question. Sorry about that. I can see that my lighting needs to get a different angle. Mostly it is above and in front of me as the bench is against the wall with storage behind me. I'll play with it as it's still bothering me.

Bob,

Appreciate the lengthy reply. I spend a long time on the home row also, but don't always get it right. I'm often confusing the edge of the tool with the edge of the imprint which at least on Crafttools isn't the same. Maybe I need better basketweaves. If I get the drawing correctly, you're suggesting not putting the toe of the next (opposite) stamp completely against the center piece in the previous grove. Rather I think I'm seeing the idea that you pull it away from center contact by a small amount. How much I guess would depend on the size of the stamp. I confess to having a hard time remembering to set back over a long stamp period. I did pick up on the hint here that stamps weren't necessarily symmetrical. Silly me I've marked a corner so I'm leading with the same edge now. It does help.

Thanks again. I'll keep playing with it.

Robert

Edited June 23, 2013 by bizbeblu

[Bob Blea]

Hello Robert,

You are right that I am suggesting to not strike the next tool impression right up against the center bar of the previous one. Because we are human and can't space them perfectly each time, you need a little wiggle room between stamps to allow for variation. If you tried to stamp them right next to each other as close as possible, you would come to a point where you make a slight mistake and stamp one impression a bit off. That forces the next stamp to cut into the center bar of another basket weave because the one before it is slightly off. The problem will compound itself on each row that follows. Since we're all human and can't be perfect, it's better to give yourself some leeway and stamp the next stamp a slight bit over. The key is to make that distance consistent on every stamp, which is easier said than done. Once you do, your basket stamps will line up in neat rows in any direction. I haven't reached that Nirvana yet, so I still have a lot to learn!

Bob

[Tex Shooter]

For hand stitching, in the morning in the shade outdoors is nice for these old tired eyes and a couple of mocking birds sing to me also. -- Tex

[Bob Blea]

For hand stitching, in the morning in the shade outdoors is nice for these old tired eyes and a couple of mocking birds sing to me also. -- Tex

Now that's an office I could live with!

Bob

[bizbeblu]

For hand stitching, in the morning in the shade outdoors is nice for these old tired eyes and a couple of mocking birds sing to me also. -- Tex

Got the mocking birds (and quail and great tail grackles and Gila woodpeckers), got a shady back patio - great idea. Only issue at the moment is it's going to hit 112ºF today. Even in the shade I'm going to feel that! I hear it is "unacceptable" to sweat all over your finished work piece

Robert

Edited June 26, 2013 by bizbeblu

[Bob Blea]

Yes, I think it leaves sweat stains