what exactly is a floaty

[workin for wood]

man...I thought a floaty was that stuff down at the bottom of my glass of water, which I refuse to drink btw.

[CanadianScroller]

....It's the little things that confuse me

First I would like to say what a wonderful job you did on the polar bear.
It is a perfect case of less is more.

As for the little things, they always have a way of sorting themselves out.
It is the big things that get overwhelming

I do not remember how the paw print was in the picture but I have done a few wolf plaques in the past where I tilted my saw at 3 or 5 degrees and cut the paw print on the bevel. The paw print then dropped down slightly in the plaque and it looks like a real paw print in the snow.

I sure wish I could take credit for this idea but..... Oh well it looks really cool when it is done.


P.S. you could try that with Neal's idea

[Dusty Buffalo]

Actually, the polar bear I cut out last week was from a picture that Carl had sent me.

It had the words Polar Bear written under with a paw print inside the O but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do it so that I could cut out the O and keep the paw print in the center. So instead, I just left the whole word out and only cut out the polar bear.

It's the little things that confuse me

[Back2Jake]

Kelly, are you working on patterns too? Portrait? Going to show us??

Take care
Toni

[Back2Jake]

Glad to be able to help.

Look forward to seeing the portrait when it's all cut.

Take care
Toni

[Dusty Buffalo]

Thanks for answering a questions I didn't know I needed to ask.

This will hopefully fix a few problems I've been having.

[Jim8Mad]

Tip for finding floaties

Here's a quick tip to check for floaties before printing your patterns. Regardless of the program you are using to make your pattern there will be a paint bucket tool (or something similar). Select this tool along with a fill color different than your pattern lines (I like using black lines and a red fill color) and click anywhere on the background. Any floaties left in the pattern will remain white allowing you to easily spot and fix them.

Keep scrolling!

[CanadianScroller]

By George I think he's got it!

Great work Daryl!

[Daryl185]

I worked on it some more I removed the one line on the back fixed both eyes and added breaks in the door knob plaque, good think I have tons of Patience otherwise I would be bonkers heehehehe

[Daryl185]

Toni thank you so very very much I totaly understand now, all need to do is add a few more breaks in the lines or remove some lines totally the one on her back thanks again Toni

[earlinjax]

If the portrait is to be mounted on a backing, I don't think "floaties" are always a bad thing. They can add a lot to the look of the project. If you save the cut out pieces you can reassemble the picture and get the floaties in the right spot.

EarlinJax

[Back2Jake]

Daryl,

Yes that's correct. I am looking at the picture you posted in the other thread under pattern design. There are some parts on the back of her shirt that would fall out and on the other areas we talked about.

The door hanger has some.

Look at her shoulder. You have a black line/cut line and it doesn't complete the arc. This works to hold her arm in with the background along with the opening at the bottom of the portrait.

I've attached a quick note, not sure I have them all at a quick glance but hopefully it helps you find the floaters and work out the pattern.

Take care
Toni

[Daryl185]

ok Toni lets see if I understand this right as I am looking at the pattern it seems the whole left hand with the door thing is a potentail floaty because it has no joinings to the back ground? right? and apparently part of the garment back also so from what your saying they would just fall off the background completly

[Back2Jake]

Daryl,

A "floaty" in a pattern is a piece of the pattern that would fall through/out if it was cut.

For example, draw a circle on a piece of paper. Now think of the paper as your overall fretwork project and you want to cut out that circle line, the inside of the circle would be a floaty, and fall out of the picture. So to correct that, re draw that circle as an arc that is 3/4 the circle. Now if you were to cut the line you just drew, it would be held in place by the rest of the background, in this case being the paper.

When it comes to pattern design, you don't want floaters.

Hopefully this make sense, I admit I haven't slept much and the phrasing may be a little off.

Take care
Toni

[Daryl185]

I have been trying to make some patterns lately and I keep seeing ref. to floatys, what exactly is a floaty and what is its function? TIA