I Can't Spell!

[bizbeblu]

Actually, with my trusty spellchecker I do okay though an F in spelling in the 4th grade remains the only true blemish of my academic career.

What I'm really struggling with is how to stamp, carve, emboss, whatever a person's name onto a leather product. In my nearly 15 years of working leather I don't think I "named" a piece more than half a dozen times and in each case it was a wide western style belt. Over the last 8 months I've done ~10 pieces with names on them mostly billfolds, clutches, and such. No belts. Part of it is that I'm reaching a different ethic group with my products than I use to and part of it is . . . well I don't know.

I am not happy with any of the lettering I've done on these pieces though the customers have all liked them. Yeah, it's good the customer is happy, but much better if I feel like I've done a good job.

I have 3 different sets of "Craptool" letter stamps: two 3/4" and one 1/2". All suffer from the same problems. They are square blobs that don't allow you to see where the letter actually is, they are virtually all the same width ("I" is and exception.), and none of them allow for any kind of kerning or leading. I've also tried generating text on a computer, printing it on transparency, transferring to the work piece, the cutting and beveling. Thus far I've been unable to make them regular enough to really look good.

I've started clamping a board across the area where the name is to be stamped in order to at least get them on the same line, but any modification of the space between letters is done by blind eye and just hasn't worked well.

So does someone know where I can buy alphabet stamps that reveal the outlines of the character from the top or have a better, different, successful way of doing lettering? On a 2" wide rodeo style belt, it really wasn't too hard other than making sure everything was on line. On smaller pieces it is much more complicated particularly when someone has a long name.

So please, help me out here. Does anyone have a successful system for creating names on leather?

Robert

[electrathon]

You want some type from old school letterpress printing. Perfect letters, perfect spacing every time. You have to press them in instead of hammering them in, Look great every time.

[bizbeblu]

You want some type from old school letterpress printing. Perfect letters, perfect spacing every time. You have to press them in instead of hammering them in, Look great every time.

Great idea. I wonder how many tons of good old type went into landfills. Have you bought some and if so where did you get it? Most font sizes for printing would be too small, but obviously there were headlines, so there was bigger type somewhere. Heading over to fleabay for a look.

Robert

[WinterBear]

Letterpress type is usually measured in points or picas, and there are roughly 72 points or 6 picas to the inch, and common larger sized fonts were 36, 42, 48, 60, and 72 points. You might find this link to be of use for the parts and descriptions for type: http://momentumpress.com/sccc/Letterpress/resources/IntroToLetterpress.pdf

I have bought type and cuts from ebay and from etsy. A single cut is easily imprinted using a clamp and a few pieces of board, or an arbor press (But don't ever hit them with a hammer! You will have very short-lived stamps if you do that. Lead type will deform, and non-lead type is brittle). Lettering requires a jig of some sort to keep the individual letters straight and impressing to the same depth. For tiny type, even wrapping the type with a strip of masking tape is often enough to hold them straight, and placing the piece and the type between boards before pressing or clamping keeps the imprint even, depthwise.

[electrathon]

stelmackr has a few threads posted here with info about how to do this and differant ways to do it (like curved lettering).

I got all of mine off of craigs list. Some of it reasonable and some very cheap.

[stelmackr]

stelmackr has a few threads posted here with info about how to do this and different ways to do it (like curved lettering)....

Ask and ye shall receive:

The problem with individual leather stamps in not only the vertical alignment, but the kerning (horizontal positioning) of certain letters next to each other. If you use those Tandy Leather Factory stamps and position one stamp to the next, then it is just like typing a Microsoft letter in courier font, a non-proportional type. See this example:

RawHide Gazette

Whereas, using a proportional font, like Times New Roman you get a result like this:

RawHide Gazette

You can see that certain letters are "kerned", or moved closer to other letters.

This kerning taken care of with the individual letters relative width and a kerning pairing indicated indicated in the font software.

So, for me, I have chosen to experiment with letterpress lead type and perform the kerning with the letters. For example the lowercase "i" is extremely narrow, whereas the "m" is the largest with. Please see http://www.pslac.org...her Article.pdf for an example of letterpress type pressed (embossed) into leather. I use a bookpress, but a plain old wood vice would do the job.

By using letterpress type I get professionally spaced text on leather. When I don't have the size or font I want, then I trace the letters printed out from a computer on the project and tool them.

Bob Stelmack

[bizbeblu]

Thanks all for your responses. Don't know why I didn't think of type before. There were once literally tons of fonts being driving by the presses of the world. I'm guessing a lot of it just got melted down.

WinterBear, I'm familiar with kerning and such and appreciate the "don't hit the type" advice. Probably the first thing I'd have tried. (Can't help it. Been a carpenter for 40+ years ) Wow, I'd forgotten all about ems and ens and of those spacing conventions from moveable type. Nice link.

Bob, great information and the link provides all kinds of possibilities. I'm basically familiar with the terminology and techniques of electronic publishing but never worked with real type. I found that if I searched for "letterpress type" on eBay I got lots of hits, so I'm looking for like something in the 36 pt range a bigger one maybe at 48 points. Like you, I'm fond of some of the older font families particularly something like Caslon or others from that era. I suspect that some of my customers would prefer something more flowing. I know that "script" style was much harder to do in lead so I'm not sure what names I'm looking for. A book press would probably do a better job than a vice if only because you don't have to worry about your type falling out.

Currently cruising ebay looking for deals on type. Some folks want a lot of money for their stuff while others seem to be just trying to get rid of it all.

Good advice here, and thanks,

Robert

[Stewart]

I will also be facing that spacing problem. Just bought some letter and number sets from Tandy

Myself do not like that type of lettering and how they look,They are a necessity

I always go to print master and use their Fonts One of the reasons i have done so many Coasters.

Working with different sizes and styles of lettering.

So you will not be alone with the learning curve and I know where a Junk pile of old type writers are.

Joe

[bizbeblu]

I will also be facing that spacing problem. Just bought some letter and number sets from Tandy

Myself do not like that type of lettering and how they look,They are a necessity

I always go to print master and use their Fonts One of the reasons i have done so many Coasters.

Working with different sizes and styles of lettering.

So you will not be alone with the learning curve and I know where a Junk pile of old type writers are.

Joe,

Let me know if you have better luck with the Tandy letter stamps than I've had. My conclusion is that they really are basically worthless for anything that requires precision. I'm been watching eBay for a couple of days and there is an active business in type listed under "letterpress type." Some astoundingly pricey offerings and others that aren't too bad. I've bid on 3 or 4 but haven't been willing to go as high as others. Using lead type will require different techniques. As Stelmakr and others have noted you can't hit the type with a mallet. It must be pressed either with a small letter press (which seem quite expensive) or with a wood jawed vise.

For those baffled about fonts and sizes and picas and points and the entire arcane world of printing, I think there are only a couple of things to be concerned with. The first is the font style which refers to the shape and embellishment of the letter. First major division is between serif (with extensions and decorations past the main stroke of the font) and sans serif. This forum works with some sort of sans serif font. Believe me, there are literally 1,000s of font families out there.

The second is the size. This is a crude font size to Imperial conversion and ignores that there are probably at least 6 different ways things can be calculated. As follows: 60 point font = ~5/8", 48 pt font = 2/3", 36 pt font = 1/2", 24 pt = 1/3", and 18 pt = 1/4". For my work I think 24, 36, and 48 are the most useful sizes.

I'll be experimenting and will post what I come up with.

Robert

[raysouth]

After reading all of the suggestions, I suppose I should look around as well. I do use the Tandy stamps and mine, on all of the sets except the smallest, have the letter on the top side, very small, but it is there.

I have made several jigs using 1/4" plastic tubing and other plastic sizes. to align the letters I wish to use. With them, I can place a complete name into the jig, and I use the arbor press to press them in using a steel plate that covers them all. 1/4" thick plate has worked well for me.

I agree, that there are many type styles that are more desireable and I have a few printers plates I scrounged up, but don't have enough of them to use on a regular basis.

All of the terminology used by the folks in the printing trade is another language to learn. lol.

God Bless.

Ray

[WinterBear]

My best and only letterpress font for lettering is actually two complete sets and one partial set of Kingsley type in the same font. All of my other type are flourishes, dingbats, and corners. The rest are figurative cuts (some reproductions, some real ones), and mostly are under 2" square. Scouts, Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, Marines, animals, hunting, fantasy beasts. I get by with using wood clamps on these, but eventually I'll get a couple of steel plates and an arbor press or a manual clicker to do a better and quicker jobs of things. Most of the language of printers is completely beyond me though.

[Stewart]

Tandy's work fine for me. Do have to rotate left to right and top to bottom. Use a ruler to lineup . as far as using other types of set letters I will stay away. I will keep on tracing and carving and use Tandy's stamps when it,s justified.

[cloverpatch]

Has anybody tried using slugs from a Ludlow?

You can't kern the type but it is all connected so the letters don't move about on you.

Perhaps several impressions with an arbor press will give an even stamp, or a wood vise as Bob Stelmack suggests.

If you can find a letterpress printer in your area there is a good chance they will have a Ludlow.

[mikesc]

http://xkcd.com/1015/

[Treed]

I do some lettering in family names and such on leather goods. I have a bunch of stamps that I used but like most had trouble with and did not care for. I use my computer now printing out a pattern for the name in what ever font that looks the best and let the computer adjust the scale and size to what I need. Trace the pattern and a few cuts and bevels and it is done. Easier than layouts, pressing or stamping letters into the leather for me and gives me a broader scope of lettering to use.