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Transferring the Pattern
By L.S. Irish

Carbon Paper

Once you have selected the design that you will be carving and the wood surface has been
prepared with any joinery work that might be needed for the finished project, the pattern
is transferring onto the wood surface.

There are several basic ways to trace the design onto the wood. The most common way to transfer a pattern is by using carbon paper. This is a paper that is used with manual typewriters to create a secondary copy of the page being typed. The blue or black surface on the back of carbon paper rubs off onto any surface with which it comes into contact. Tracing paper is available at many drug stores, craft shops and office supply outfits.

Position the design on the wood surface and secure the paper with several strips of tape, either masking tape or clear tape. Slide the carbon paper with the black/blue surface facing the wood. Use an ink pen to trace over the lines of the pattern. As you trace the carbon paper is making an exact copy for you on the board. When you have copied every line of the design lift one or two pieces of the tape, leaving at least one piece still securing the pattern paper. You can now check that you indeed traced the entire pattern,

Carbon paper makes a clear dark line for woodworking pattern that easily carves away as you work without leaving any stain marks. Nor will it rub off the wood surface as you work the carving. However, it does not erase with a pencil eraser so any remaining lines in the carving will need to be shaved away with your knife.

If you are tracing to a dark colored wood you may need to use Dress Maker's Carbon Paper, this is generally white but also comes in different colors, as the name implies this paper is used in sewing and may be found in sewing and fabric shops.

A second way to is to use a soft lead pencil to blacken the back of your pattern paper. Here you are creating your own carbon and do not need to deal with several paper layers.

Turn the pattern paper to the back. With a soft lead pencil, number two or higher, rub the entire area with a layer of pencil lead. Flip the pattern over so that you can see the design and position it into place on the wood. As with carbon paper tape the pattern to secure it in place. Now with an ink pen trace over all of the design lines. Again, just as with carbon paper, the pressure of the ink pen with leave a line from the pencil rubbing on the board.

Soft pencil tracing creates a lighter line than does carbon paper and can rub off as you work on the project. However, you can easily correct or adjust the design once it has been transferred to the wood by erasing the lines and redrawing them. This is an excellent transfer technique if you are wood burning, since any traced lines that show after the project is done can easily erased, unlike carbon paper lines.

If the project and pattern that you have chosen is very large you might wish to use newspaper as your tracing media. The printer's ink used in newspaper production will create tracing lines on the wood. Use a page with densely packed typeset such as the Classified Ad section. As with other tracing media, place the newspaper underneath the pattern and copy the lines using an ink pen.

The print from the page will be transferred to the wood. This form of tracing leaves a broken line or dashed line effect since the ink will only appear where there was printing on the newspaper. Once the tracing is complete use a pencil the connect the dashed lines on the wood surface. Newspaper tracing is very effective for extra large projects since it allows you to position the entire pattern and do the tracing all in one step.

If you are a wood painter, newspaper will become your favorite means of transferring a pattern. As a wood painter you are often working on a primed and painted surface, not unfinished wood. Carbon paper used on enamel or acrylic colors often leave a line that is difficult to cover, the blue/black ink can bleed into your decoration. Soft pencil leaves an easy tracing line to cover, however it often 'smears' around the outside of the tracing where your hand has rubbed against the pattern during the copying, creating extra work to remove the smears. Newspaper will leave a soft, easy to cover line, and has much less smearing than does soft pencil.

The greatest tip to tracing with any media on painted wood is to allow the base coat paint to thoroughly dry. Acrylic latex paints require at least twenty four hours after the final coat and enamel based paints can require up to three days. An easy way to check if the base coat is dry is to put the back of your hand to the surface or touch the piece to your cheek. If the surface feels 'cool' or 'cold' then it is still damp.

This is especially important with enamel based paints. These types of color are made with a base of turpentine, lacquer thinner, or mineral spirits. All of these 'floats' evaporate as the paint dry. If they are still present when you trace, the 'float' will loosen the tracing media in both carbon paper and newspaper causing thick, uncontrolled transfer lines.

Just thought I would pass a long a little trick that I have used in the past to put images
on wood. If you have a photocopier, copy the image. Before the carbon has time to dry attach it to your work piece and run a warm clothes iron over the back. The only draw back to this method is that your image is reversed on the wood. Don't use the steam on your iron  it makes mess!
This tip was e-mailed to us by K. Hurley, The Silverwolf.