Members Eccho Posted February 5, 2014 Author Members Report Posted February 5, 2014 Thank you to all that contributed to this post, great ideas and I will definitely be trying some of them till I find the one that works best for me. "Tree Reaper " I am assuming you made that unit yourself, very nice! Quote leatherart3.com
Members BDAZ Posted February 5, 2014 Members Report Posted February 5, 2014 I simply use a thin fence made from a strip of hard wood and affixed to my slab with two spring clamps. I also use some of that woven rubber shelving under the slab to keep it from shifting on the press. I don't think one could generate enough pressure to do more than one letter at a time. Cya! Bob Quote
Tree Reaper Posted February 5, 2014 Report Posted February 5, 2014 Yes, I made that one and I have a smaller one for the arbor press. I had the same problem using the stamps and this is what I've settled on for not only lining them up but also using the straight edge for a reference as well. What I do is lay the letters out and get a measurement, subtract that from the over all distance between the borders, divide that by two and that's my starting point so I then put a pencil mark on the fence and place all the stamps along the fence starting at that mark and the distance at the other end should be the same as the starting mark on the fence. Quote
Members JDTagish Posted February 12, 2014 Members Report Posted February 12, 2014 Dunno if this is relvant, but my alphabet stamps from Tandy always seem to have some bits left on the sides that I have to file down to make the letters flush. I know they're not the best sets, but you may want to check your stamps to see if the edges are perfect, and if not file them a bit. I have this same problem, and the jig looks awesome. I've had more frustration trying to get letters aligned with guidelines and everything, and always wind up with things askew as well. I'll have to look at trying to build something like that jig. Quote
Contributing Member JLSleather Posted February 12, 2014 Contributing Member Report Posted February 12, 2014 Alphabet stamps 'suck'. Cheap, and they look it. Search on here for posts by Electrathon about type and typesetting. His text looks as good as any I've seen. Quote "Observation is 9/10 of the law." IF what you do is something that ANYBODY can do, then don't be surprised when ANYBODY does.
Members ReneeCanady Posted February 12, 2014 Members Report Posted February 12, 2014 Alphabet stamps 'suck'. Cheap, and they look it. Search on here for posts by Electrathon about type and typesetting. His text looks as good as any I've seen. I couldn't find the posts you were referring to by Electrathon, but I am sure they were good. He usually has really good advice. I do beg to differ with you on the ABC stamps. I think if they are done nicely and you can't see the square shape of the tool bordering the letter, they seem to look okay. I know that a nicely tooled letter usually looks better. I have a very bad mental block with tooling letters for some reason. I can carve and tool things the exact same size but when it comes to it being a letter, I freeze lol. For instance I had to do this entire image on a 5" x 5" piece of leather and I believe there was no way in hell I was going to get the letters to look nice, even, and legible without the ABC stamps. Quote www.facebook.com/alteredleather
Members Murray Posted February 12, 2014 Members Report Posted February 12, 2014 I'm with JD. I had to file down the leftover casting bits on the edges of all my stamps so that they would sit flush with each other an that made a world of difference in the finished project. I am also with Treereeper, you have to use a fence (if using the hammer method), with out a fence its a free for all. Quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 If mypeople, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. www.facebook.com/MHLeatherworks
electrathon Posted February 12, 2014 Report Posted February 12, 2014 I actually learned to do it from stelmackr, here is a link to his site. http://aaleatherbigbookcovers.com/download/Typography%20in%20Leather%20Article.pdf With a little set up time you can print perfectly. Your printing will be as good as newspaper/boopk quality. Quote
Members ReneeCanady Posted February 12, 2014 Members Report Posted February 12, 2014 Wow, that's pretty interesting Electrathon! Quote www.facebook.com/alteredleather
Members BDAZ Posted February 13, 2014 Members Report Posted February 13, 2014 I make a product which has a vertical name centered in a 2" strip and it's a bear getting it centered, spaced and vertical. The worst is the %^&(*$ "I". It's narrower then all the other letters and a bear to keep vertical. I find the middle point, then use a fence on the arbor press with an aluminum triangle and a centering rule to make sure the first letter is both centered and square to the edge. Once the first letter, (the middle one or close) is done, I keep the stamp in the impression and build the name from center out. This generally works well EXCEPT for the "I". I usually come close but I have yet to get the "I" perfect. Cya! Bob Quote
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