book patterns

[aulddiy]

Remember I'm a beginner to carving.
I bought a book by a well known chip carver. Just tried tracing a circular pattern from it. I was surprised to find that the pattern in the book was not a true circle, about 1/4" out in 6" diameter.

Is this common in such publications?
rgds
John

[BobD]

It's tough to admit...but mistakes happen.

Something like that can come from any number of sources...if the plate used in the printing proces shifted a bit, it could account for it.

Or, if the artwork was hand-drawn, and it shifted on the scanner when it was being digitalized...

Or it could even be human error...or if you photocopied the pattern out of the book, the binding may have prevented you from copying accurately.

When I'm doing chip carving, I tend to use the patterns as a guide and
draw my own circle, grids, etc. It's more accurate for me that way, unless i'm doing a non-geometric design, such as Barry McKenzie's free-form designs, or Wayne Barton's positive image designs.

Bob Duncan
Technical Editor

[aulddiy]

I'm aware of the distortion that photocopying can create, but this was directly off the book. To make it worse, the pattern was intricate and it was after I'd traced it and laid it on the plate I discovered it was "off the true". Of course I said "Dear Me"- or something.

However its a learning process in future I'll check before I trace.