Transfering Images Onto Leather

[Dwight]

It is a little pricey, . . . but at Office Depot you can get this:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/617993/Apollo-Plain-Paper-Copier-Transparency-Film/

You can draw on it, . . . print on it with a computer printer, . . . and you will never make enough leather goods to wear out the plastic.

It's good for tooling patterns and for actual "outline" patterns for holsters, purses, etc.

May God bless,

Dwight

[hidepounder]

When I draw patterns I usually use vellum paper. It doesn't smear and rub off on my hand while I'm drawing which is the problem with drawing on tracing film. Then I trace the pattern onto tracing film. Yes, it's double the effort, but I've found it to be time well spent. First, of course, the tracing film is more durable and can be used again. It is also much easier to orient onto the leather because I can see through it. But the most valuable thing I've found is that I always end up making little changes which improve the pattern when I'm tracing the pattern onto film. I always wonder why I didn't identify those problems when I was drawing. Maybe I get so focused on little details that I miss the "forest for the trees", but I almost always find things I want to fix and that is enough of a reason by itself for me to continue the practice. I also tape my pattern onto the leather. I try to insure that the pattern doesn't move while I'm tracing. I also make a point to trace the pattern onto the leather as perfectly as possible. For me, it's just as important to get the pattern transfered on correctly as it is to cut it correctly and one definitely begets the other.

Hope this helps!

Bobby

[AllanD]

I have tried using tape to hold a pattern on leather, but I often get a residue left on the leather. I've tried scotch tape, magic tape, blue and green masking tape but always have something left on the leather. I've tried folding the pattern over the edge and taping on the flesh side and that has left the back side with a little leather or at least some fibers. Holding it down with my other hand sometime works well, but sometimes, especially as I learn, a little tape would be helpful. Is there a special leather tape I haven't heard of yet?

Thanks!

[hidepounder]

I always mount my tooling piece onto a piece of 1/4" acrylic (plexiglass) to control stretch. I know that I'm going to line the project so I don't care about the glue residue on the back. When I tape my pattern on, I tape it to the plexiglass. My patterns are drawn on film which fits the size of the project and I have on occasion, just used blue tape over the edges of the leather (when I'm not using plexiglass.

Hope this helps....

Bobby

[HollyNelson]

"...I usually use vellum paper. It doesn't smear and rub off on my hand while I'm drawing which is the problem with drawing on tracing film..."

There is a special kind of pencil for drawing on mylar film, not graphite based, which doesn't smear when you're using it. Not certain if it is still being manufactured, but it does a good job on translucent mylar.

I have a few left from a previous life as a draftsman, called Berol Filmograph pencils, and there appear to be some people selling them in eBay and Etsy and places like that.