Stencil Help

driezeinaz

driezeinaz

Dry Creek Bladeworks
Joined
Sep 20, 2013
Messages
266
Hey guys. I have found a couple good leads on here for a source to do my stencil for my makers mark. I have it ready to go in both an eps and jpeg format, and have it sized to several dimensions that I would like. I sent it to a source that I found on here, but he changed it significantly and sent it back to me. I don't like the revisions made and would like to keep it as is. I have tried for the past month to reach TusTech, but they won't respond.

Does anyone know another source I can try? Here is my design. If anyone thinks this for some reason is too difficult to create as a stencil based on their experience or own designs, please let me know.

Thanks!

PROPOSED MAKERS MARK BELOW


View attachment 546464
 
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You have too much detail that will not hold up at the size your mark needs to be on a blade. Have you tried printing out your design at the finished size. I did and it's so small, even if you could get a stencil that wound hold the detail, no one would be able to read it.

I'm not sure why you can't get up with Jan, but I'm sure he would tell you the same thing. If it's Ernie that you have been dealing with, he's just trying to help you and he knows what he's talking about as, your stencil will not be his first.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I had not printed them out that size, but had them sized on my computer and they appeared to look OK. Sounds like I need to redo the design. I hadn't got any feedback on the design I had sent in, just a response with some changes, so had no basis to make a conclusion on, but your feedback sure helps a lot. Appreciate it.

NC Biker said:
You have too much detail that will not hold up at the size your mark needs to be on a blade. Have you tried printing out your design at the finished size. I did and it's so small, even if you could get a stencil that wound hold the detail, no one would be able to read it.

I'm not sure why you can't get up with Jan, but I'm sure he would tell you the same thing. If it's Ernie that you have been dealing with, he's just trying to help you and he knows what he's talking about as, your stencil will not be his first.
Click to expand...
 
Based on what you are saying you are dealing with Ernie, I had the same problem. Nice guy but he completely ignored everything I said and asked and I just ended up frustrated. Same deal with Jan, emailed got no response and then called and he said to email him so I did again and never heard back.

Frustrated, someone recommended Patricia at IMG. She was quick, I ended up talking to her bsing for an hour and was nothing but a pleasure to work with. I can't speak for the design complexity other than to say mine is more complex than yours and she did one in just under a 1/2" and just over 3/8" square. I just got my etcher and am about to try it out so I will let you know how that goes. I did ask Patricia if she foresaw any issues and told her to be honest, because I really liked this design but didn't want to end up wasting money, and she told me it should be fine, but she would tell me if she thought it would give me problems because she's had people in the past ignore her advice then call and complain to her it didn't work out and she doesn't like dealing with that.

http://www.img-electromark.com/

Good Luck
-Clint
 
Patricia at IMG is a real pleasure to work with. On the complexity of your design, it depends on how small you wish it. Is this for a wide Chef's blade or a small folder or paring knife? BIG difference. I've got several different sized stencils depending on blade size.

You might take the small inside lighter colored lines from inside your mountains. Remember, all lines will be the same, with no shading in the finished etch.

Ken H>
 
I used Lectro-etch. I got 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2". Even with the 1/4" you can see the palm fronds on the palm tree. The amount of detail you can get is pretty amazing.
 
I agree with Ken H, the size of the knife will be a factor in how big the mark can be and how much detail you will want to incorporate. The biggest problem I see with you mark is the font you have selected. It's a very fine serif font that will not give you as sharp an image as if you were to use a bolder san serif font.

serif.png


I'm also from the school that less is more. Name and State is the most I would want to include. As a graphic artist, I try to keep it simple.

Below is a comparison of your mark versus mine. Notice how the bolder image stands out more. You can also look at the examples on Ernie's site and notice that very few use a serif font and if they do, it's on a mark that only has few letters, so that the font can be bigger and the serifs are not an issue.

mm.png


I'm not saying what you have will not work, only that using less detail with a bolder font will make your makers mark sharper and you will have less rut rows when applying it.

I hope this helps!
 
Thanks. This was very helpful. I will reach out to Patricia. I will need one stencil as small as 1/4 in height, but most will be 3/8" as well.

Augus7us said:
Based on what you are saying you are dealing with Ernie, I had the same problem. Nice guy but he completely ignored everything I said and asked and I just ended up frustrated. Same deal with Jan, emailed got no response and then called and he said to email him so I did again and never heard back.

Frustrated, someone recommended Patricia at IMG. She was quick, I ended up talking to her bsing for an hour and was nothing but a pleasure to work with. I can't speak for the design complexity other than to say mine is more complex than yours and she did one in just under a 1/2" and just over 3/8" square. I just got my etcher and am about to try it out so I will let you know how that goes. I did ask Patricia if she foresaw any issues and told her to be honest, because I really liked this design but didn't want to end up wasting money, and she told me it should be fine, but she would tell me if she thought it would give me problems because she's had people in the past ignore her advice then call and complain to her it didn't work out and she doesn't like dealing with that.

http://www.img-electromark.com/

Good Luck
-Clint
Click to expand...
 
This is of great help. I did some tweaking with the font and printed it out. AT 0.25" it is a bit blurry on my ink jet printer, but perhaps on a stencil, it may look cleaner....or not! I tried to limit it to just my first name on the top and last on the bottom, but then the whole formatting of the arc gets all skewed, so I may need to rework it all if the revised font design doesn't work. This has definitely helped get me back on track. I appreciate all of the recommendations and advice. Thanks guys.

NC Biker said:
I agree with Ken H, the size of the knife will be a factor in how big the mark can be and how much detail you will want to incorporate. The biggest problem I see with you mark is the font you have selected. It's a very fine serif font that will not give you as sharp an image as if you were to use a bolder san serif font.

serif.png


I'm also from the school that less is more. Name and State is the most I would want to include. As a graphic artist, I try to keep it simple.

Below is a comparison of your mark versus mine. Notice how the bolder image stands out more. You can also look at the examples on Ernie's site and notice that very few use a serif font and if they do, it's on a mark that only has few letters, so that the font can be bigger and the serifs are not an issue.

mm.png


I'm not saying what you have will not work, only that using less detail with a bolder font will make your makers mark sharper and you will have less rut rows when applying it.

I hope this helps!
Click to expand...
 
driezeinaz said:
This is of great help. I did some tweaking with the font and printed it out. AT 0.25" it is a bit blurry on my ink jet printer, but perhaps on a stencil, it may look cleaner....or not! I tried to limit it to just my first name on the top and last on the bottom, but then the whole formatting of the arc gets all skewed, so I may need to rework it all if the revised font design doesn't work. This has definitely helped get me back on track. I appreciate all of the recommendations and advice. Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

WAY to MUCH stuff to come out on a repeatable basis at 1/4.
My Avatar is my knife logo stencil and they do fine in 1/2" 3/4" and 1 1/2" on my blades. I have used http://www.ecemmi.com For almost 20 years. A nice lady named Maria that has a Brit accent usually answers the phone and is very helpful. I have their Personalizer Plus unit and it works great.
 
Much better, you're headed in the right direction. I would suggest you keep refining, think simple and bold. I design a lot of campaign buttons and constantly struggle with customers who don't stop to realize how small the canvas is, in my case one inch at times. In the case of a makers mark it's even smaller, typically about 5/8" or so. If you want something that is going to be easily recognizable at this size, you will have to keep it simple and bold so that it stands out.

Look at these two examples versus your design and you will see what I mean.

end2.png
 
driezeinaz said:
Thanks. This was very helpful. I will reach out to Patricia. I will need one stencil as small as 1/4 in height, but most will be 3/8" as well.
Click to expand...

I've been dealing with patricia as well. very professional and patient... highly recommended. we have been bouncing ideas off one another to make something work. I know what I want and she knows what will look good for size and whatnot. it's like going to a great tattoo artist who can tell you why your idea is good or how to fix it.
 
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