Home › Forums › Pattern ideas & questions › Pattern Placement
- This topic has 2 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 1 month ago by David Bass.
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- February 5, 2020 at 4:14 pm #100008189David BassParticipant
Marty, maybe for a future video or webinar cover tips and tricks for pattern placement. So far I have always gotten the plates with the pattern already on them, but I would like to learn what the best approach to use to get them centered. I admit doing so makes me nervous and always wonder about direction of wood grain. Also, now that I am almost finished with the letters course I am interested the best approach to get the letters on a plate.
February 5, 2020 at 9:10 pm #100008190Marty LeenhoutsKeymasterExcellent 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
February 8, 2020 at 10:48 pm #100008207David BassParticipantThank you Marty!
I guess my next purchase will be the instant center finder. 🙂
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