Tool Small Objects/lettering

[KBCustom]

Hi Everyone,

I have been having some troubles perfecting my beveling for very small objects especially letters. Can anyone give me some tips on how to better tool these areas? i am using the smallest beveling tool offered, and try smoothing areas out with a modeling spoon but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. I think it still looks a bit sloppy. I've included a couple snap shots of the order i am currently working on.

Thanks

[Bob Blea]

Tooling small letters like that takes very gentle tapping of the tool when you are using a small beveller. I get that sometimes but usually I'm matting or backgrounding around them so it's not too hard to fix / cover up. In your case I'm assuming that you want to leave the leather looking natural around the letters? In short your not going to background or texture the areas around the letters?

If that is the case, I would start by using a smooth matting tool to matte out the beveling halo around the letters. A good figure beveller works wonders for this but there are also smooth matting tools that work for this too. That will eliminate the tool tracks like you are doing with your modeling spoon, just a lot quicker.

Hope this helps,

Bob

Edited June 12, 2015 by Bob Blea

[KBCustom]

Thanks for your response Bob. To answer your question, Yes i am leaving the letters plain with no backgrounding. How would you recommend getting into the pin size spots for example, in the dead spots in the e's and a's? This is where i struggle the most i would say since it is very difficult to do anything with these areas without ruining the actual letter itself.

[Bob Blea]

We'll I have Robert Beard figure bevellers that would get into those spots (I think) but assuming you don't have some of those laying around....

Tandy did make some small figure bevellers but you would need the older ones, not the modern tools. Even then I'm not sure how well those would work. I normally would be bargrounding the insides of letters like that, or using some other small backgrounding tool. In your case I don't think that would look right though.

Your best solution may be to custom make a matting tool for this. I would take a nail and file the sharp point off a bit till it was around the size of the insides of the E or A. That will become the face of the tool. Then round all the edges around the face so there are no sharp edges hitting the leather. Finally you will need a way to polish the face as smooth as possible. Now you have a custom made small area matting tool, and if you have the tools (probably only need a file and a dremel tool) you could make something that works really well.

I've seen some carvers doing amazingly small work (Google Britt Nantz if you can) and they primarily use modeling spoons and purpose made tools for this sort of work.