Rulers, Measuring and Lines | |
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One absolutely wonderful trick that I picked up in a bookmaking class (Kitty Maryatt's at Discovery) is to replace the cork on the underside of metal rulers with sandpaper. Simply peel off the cork, lay down double-stick Scotch tape, and stick on medium grit sandpaper. This ruler won't move at all, it is very stable and safe to use with an x-acto knife. It is enjoyable to learn such an easy, helpful trick. I'm happy to share this one with you all. Carol DuBosch, Portland Oregon _______________________ To be more accurate when measuring always place your ruler at a well defined mark IN from the end of your ruler. I often use the 1 inch or 1 cm mark for easier calculations. Also using a sharp point to mark your increments equates to a more accurate job. When measuring a series of points, your calculations can get significantly skewed, even if you are only out by a hair each time. (All those hairs add up!) Ruth Booth, Mississauga, Ontario, CA _______________________ Another option, instead of marking your increments with single hair lines, mark them with V's or checkmarks. You can then see exactly where the mark should be (at the point) rather than guessing as to which side of the single line to be on. Also, it's a lot easier to divide space or a line of lettering when using a metric scale Nancy Whalen, Cincinnati _______________________ Couldn't agree more Nancy. One further tip when practicing page after page of formal work that requires ruling up. Rule the lines accurately on the first sheet. Take a sharp needle, or similar and holding the pad of paper firmly, press vertically down through the points of reference, transferring them via a series of little holes to subsequent sheets. Simply join the dots' for second and subsequent pages. Karen Ter Har, Melbourne _______________________ I find all sorts of useful scales, depending on the job. Long before guideline software became available, I xeroxed many copies of my ruler collection, which includes inches, metric, points, picas, agates, and odd sizes for needlepoint (7th, 11th, etc.). I find a suitable size and mark the spaces I want on the paper ruler then tape it to the edge of my board for ruling. If I expect to use that ruler a lot, I laminate it with scotch tape. Corinna Taylor, Chicago _______________________ This goes along with Corinna's list of all the different measuring *sticks.* My favorite is the pica pole. Picas are used by printers. (Maybe that is past tense. But, they are still available.) Picas are so much easier for measuring because there are 6 to an inch. By using picas you can always be measuring in whole numbers rather than fractions like 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 3/4, 7/8, etc. which are really cumbersome for adding. It is a wonderful time saver. I use it when I have to calculate how many sheets of paper I need to cut out 350 place cards. Centimeters offer the same advantage of allowing you to work in whole numbers. So, if you have a ruler with centimeters, you can try it. But, I think picas have an advantage over centimeters because of their proportion. The second part of the tip is even better. It can be done with inches, picas, centimeters or anything. It is away to divide any space into any number of equal spaces. I'll start with the easiest example and it comes up quite often. How do I divide my 11" sheet of paper into 3 equal parts? Place a 12" ruler on the paper so that the very tip is on the top of the paper and the other tip is at the bottom. Put a dot at the 4. Then take the bottom edge and fold it up to the dot. You will have found the bottom third. Folding the top down will give you the remaining third. Or Put one dot at 4 and one dot at 8. Draw horizontal lines through those two dots. You will have your thirds without folding. Either way, you have divided the page into 3 equal parts. Now, leaving the ruler in the same position, notice how you could divide it into 4 equal parts or 6 or 12. This principle can be used to divide any space into any number of equal increments. All you need is a measuring stick with increments that are easily divisible. Again, the pica pole is perfect. If I don't have a pica pole handy. I work with eighths and renumber the ruler in my mind. 1"=8, 2"=16 and so on. I use this method to divide space whenever I have a given space to work with. I count how many lines and spaces I have. I decide how much margin I want to leave. And then I divide the space. After I see the depth of each line, I can take my longest line and see how it will fit. Jean/Ellen Wilson _______________________ Rulers: I use a metal inch/metric ruler (have numerous sizes) with a cork back 90% of the time. But I love my Architect's multi-scale rule that I got when I did signs and had to submit thumbnail sketches to scale before I started. It has 6 different scales/increments that could be used for a somewhat intuitive approach to measuring like J/E (Ellen?) does, or for anything done to scale. I also love my set of Schaedler Precision Rules that cost a small fortune considering they are printed on an opaque but clear plastic (you can write with pencil on them, erase, and yet see through them). They have incredibly small increments (1/64th of an inch, 1/2 millimeter), and have Picas and Agate lines (which I never use). I got these when I used to paste up type and produce mechanicals for print, dye cuts etc. and needed that really tiny accuracy. Not for drawing lines, but the BEST for measuring. I seldom use them anymore (one of the many things the computer has replaced) but they are wonderful when you need this type of accuracy, or just like to write on your ruler. Jill Bell _______________________ The following hint may sound complicated but is very easy to execute. This hint is useful for when your paper measurement is not divisible by the number of lines or segments you want to make. It may be for design divisions, lettering guides, or for any other need you have for the divisions. For an example, your paper measures 8 1/2 inches long and you want to measure nine segments. Rather than go through the hassle of calculating and measuring 8.5 divided by 9, you can line up the ruler top to bottom and then slowly move the bottom edge of the ruler on a slant until the measurement becomes 9 inches. If you wanted to divide it into 12 segments, the slant of the diagonal would be greater until the ruler on the paper read 12 inches. Be sure the 0 point of the ruler remains lined up with the one edge of the paper. Then make a dot on your paper next to each inch. You can make a second guide on the paper by moving the ruler over, repeating the process, and being careful to match edges again for a second dot. Or you can use a T-square to finish the lines. Angee Cobb (permission to duplicate) _______________________ To center names or lines of lettering I generally write it out once in rough using the same size and style the finished work will be. Then I cut the line of lettering out and fold it in half, crease it and unfold. Make a small pencil mark on the finished work if it doesn't have an obvious visual center. Now, just hold your rough a little above or below where your final line of lettering will go, matching your center fold to the center of the finished work. This makes it easy to know where to begin lettering. If, I have a series of names to do, I will write my roughs in alist and then quickly cut between each one (like the tear off phone numbers you see on the notice board in the grocery store). This way, as I am doing the good copies, I just tear each name or line of lettering off as I go. Ruth Booth, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada _______________________ A tip I gave to someone who called me last night. She had been asked to letter on a mat. She was in a panic because she is just starting to take jobs and is not really comfortable with the quality of her lettering. I told her that when I first started, and I knew that the client wanted perfect lettering that looked like a font, to go ahead and print out a font in the right size. Use the font and transfer paper to put the lettering on the mat and then just letter right over the transfer. It will be perfect to the client's eyes. You need to get a few jobs out of the way to gain the confidence. If there is something really out of whack on the font, you can fix it. But the overall effect will be fine and you will know that everything is centered and spelled correctly. Jean/Ellen Wilson _______________________ To make lines on dark papers use a soapstone pencil. It wipes away easily with a soft cloth, without bruising the paper. Ruth Booth, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada _______________________ If using pencils for guidelines, have them sharp, and keep them sharp. Karen Ter Har, Melbourne, Australia _______________________ To make lines on show cards or bristol board use light strokes of willow charcoal. This wipes away easily with a soft cloth and doesn't leave scoring marks on the card. Ruth Booth, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada _______________________ Use pinking shears to cut the end of a tongue depressor for a quick 5-line pen. Jean Formo _______________________ For a quick and easy way to line an envelope: Pull a fork across the envelope; it works very well, it's fast and virtually invisible. Bill Gray _______________________ LIGHT TABLES AND SLANT BOARDS: Frighteningly so, my tip is a safety tip. If you own a light table, make sure that it doesn't blast you out of the room. By this I mean, if you are trying to recycle an old x-ray machine or exposing yourself regularly to an overly bright window box, stop. It is too much. Give your eyeballs a break and relate back to your monastic roots. The eyestrain is bad. Or maybe just to say use light tables with moderation. Jen Harrison _______________________ I have a partial solution to the glare problem. I cover the parts I don't need with light gray or blue paper. Construction paper is about the right weight. The color doesn't really matter as long as it isn't too dark. Black will soak up the heat like mad. In case you're concerned about overheating, all I can say is that I've done this on my most-used lightbox (sometimes as much as eight hours a day) with no apparent ill effects in the past seven or eight years. I also simply avoid looking at it when lit except when there's a certificate in place on it. Corinna Taylor, Chicago _______________________ Also on the other side of this "problem": My light "table" is my slant board. The light is a florescent lamp that is normally attached to the undersides of cabinets--but it lies flat. The "glass" is frosted Plexiglas. I actually find that, after working on it for 15=30 minutes on dreary/rainy/cloudy mornings, my mood comes right up! Living in the great gray "northwest" where we seem to have a sort of epidemic of "SAD" (seasonally affected disorder), many folks find light therapy effective. I thought about one of those fancy lights-on-a-timer that wake you like the rosy fingers of a summer dawn, but heck, making marks on a light table seems to work just fine and--and even, sometimes, profitable! Katy Houston, Seattle WA _______________________ Always write at a slope. This allows you to sit up comfortably at your work, and to see the ms. clearly as though it were on an easel - and by the resulting horizontal position of the pen, the ink is kept under control. It may be seen from ancient pictures that this was the method of the scribes. Never write on a flat table; it causes the writer to stoop, the ms. is see foreshortened and the ink flows out the pen too rapidly. Edward Johnston, submitted by Paul Siegel | |