Has anyone posted

K Frei

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St. George Utah
I've been looking on the forum for some tips on cutting a monogram.
I've been cutting practices and they are turning out quite well... except for loosing my transfer, but letters themselves i'm ok with. the main thing i am having trouble with is cut order; and, or integrating it all.
here is a example; it is the first time I've cut this so it rough, and when i transferred it i used to much acetone and the transfer bled quite a bit. I'd like to improve it, and am open to ideas. thanks K Frei
 

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Sam

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I don't know...to me it looks like a confusing bunch of lines. I can't read it nor can Abigail.:confused: I'm thinking you might need to go back to the drawing board on this one.
 

K Frei

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St. George Utah
Yea i know it needs help. i have another one i am working on the is much more readable, but that wouldn't point out my errors so its not on here. i think i need to space it out a bit more, but really i need help, and was hoping there was something in the tips archive. thanks K Frei
I don't know...to me it looks like a confusing bunch of lines. I can't read it nor can Abigail.:confused: I'm thinking you might need to go back to the drawing board on this one.
 

Lee

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Kyler, a couple of thngs in general with regards to monogram work.
1-It's easy with a script mongram to fancy it up so much that it can't be read. With that in mind I start my mongram designs with the letter/letters all alone in a nice clean readable script and then add some curls,swoops, and flourishes. Add a line at a time and at some point (and sometimes rather quickly) it's readability starts to suffer. For most mongrams one step before it suffers is a good time to quit.
2-It's to your advantage to have a very noticable difference in the width of the lines in the mongram. The important letter forming lines (beauty lines) which traditionally are the downstrokes if you were writing it with a pencil are usually heavier or wider and the upstroke is a hairline. If an upstroke is still a letter forming line such as the right side of the capital "D" it will have more weight than a hairline. Most of the flourishes, swoops, and curls will be cut lighter than the important lines of the letter. Having said this and looking at your monogram you have the opportunity to vary your line width more and make it more readable and clear.

The thread on penmanship that has been ongoing for a while is an outstanding read for all of us and a good foundation for understanding letter formation. Your lines are coming along and don't be discouraged. Many of us have been there and with some more practice you will see rapid improvement.
 

DKanger

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Get a copy of the Jewelry Engraver's Manual from Dover. It's about eight bucks. It has a chapter on monograms including design and several full alphabet examples as well as much other valuable info.
 

Sam

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One of the Bergling books is on google books, and it shows many good monograms. What you've engraved doesn't seem to be a monogram as in 2 or 3 letter initials. Perhaps it's a name. There are some insanely intricate monograms from yesteryear that are a struggle to figure out, but the quality of design is exceptional. The Encyclopedia of Monograms by Lenoard G. Lee (reprint of a very old original ) is also an excellent resource and I bought a couple of copies for less than $10 ea.

As Lee points out, the thread on penmanship is a great place to start. A foundation in basic lettering skills is a prerequisite to more advanced monogram design.
 

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