Tip for Transfering Patterns to Wood

[Shimmy]

The hot tool thing is good for Chip carving patterns because you need all the lines for guidance. but for whittling patterns I find the old carbon paper the fastest and easiest.Don't matter if you miss something ,you know where you are going.

[Kevin Morin]

Another good method to transfer your planned art/pattern to the work is to use the overhead projector with transparency.

If the pattern will be drawn in A (8-1/2"x 11") or B (11" x 17") paper then scaling up to a larger format can be time consuming.

If you turn off the lights in the shop/studio and turn on the projector you can move the projector back and forth to scale up the (projected) image onto the work. Also if you were going to test different arrangements of the figures/objects in the piece to the wood's shape or grain alignment this method can help there too.

By just sketching around the projected image lines you can get the transfer, turn on the lights and look at the piece with the arrangement drawn. If you don't like that one, or need to move your figures around for reasons that show up in the light (?) sand the surface to 'erase' the tracings- and do it again.

This method will work for small pieces as well, many projector's lenses will reduce the image if the paper/projection screen is mounted close to the projector.

So, if your drawing of the work is larger or smaller than the final piece's real dimensions, the overhead projector is very helpful to adjust the size, useful to 'test' different arrangements on the wood, and if the pattern were used again it could be used larger or smaller than to first piece without having to scale the original art.

Cheers,
Kevin Morin