Excellent suggestion, David! I have plans to create a “Start-to-Finish” Course on Carving a Plate and this would definitely be part of the Course.
In the meantime, here’s a quick tip on centering the rosette.
- Use an instant center finder to mark the center of the plate. If you don’t have an ICF, look closely and you may be able to see the center point if it hasn’t been sanded away.
- Use a sharp pencil and poke a hole in the center of your pattern.
- on the back of the pattern make a pencil mark on the element of the pattern you want at the top. I prefer to orient this top point in line with the grain so the grain runs up and down. Cabinet doors, door panels and other wood pieces in a house have the grain running up and down so this orientation makes sense to me.
- push the pencil point into the hole from the back side of the pattern and look underneath so the pencil point is in the center of the plate.
- lay the pattern down and spin it as needed to align the top point you marked straight up on the plate
- tape it down in a few places
- use your Pattern Transfer Tool to apply the pattern.
Hope you find this helpful!
Marty