Pounce Pattern

[Scott Shepherd]

Anyone used a pounce pattern before? I ordered some letters and paid for one, it came, and I was not impressed at all. Biggest problem is I couldn't find a pounce bag or whatever you call the thing. Seems like they would include it with the pattern. I went to 3 art or craft stores and no one sold them and only one person knew what I was talking about.

With my deadline coming and going and no time to research what it was made of and track down those supplies, I made an acrylic template that worked a lot better. When I look at the $80 I paid for it, it makes me mad. The letters they printed on the pattern were about 1/4" off the actual holes they punched, so what you were looking at visually wasn't where the letters would end up, not to mention trying to figure how how to get the pounce dust to work.

Anyone use them, or had any luck with them? From now on I'll just make a template myself. I know my cost was far less than the $80 a paid for a useless pattern.

Also noticed that the artwork that was given to me didn't have the letters centered, and they used that graphic. Wouldn't you think a company that cuts those things for a living would have given a quick call and said "You know the 3 lines of text don't have the same center line, don't you?". Nope. Just cut it and send it. Had I installed it via their template, it would have been ugly, and expensive for me. I would have had to patch the wall and repaint the wall where the letters were removed.

[Mike Null]

Steve

Way back when I remember my artist uncle using a pounce bag and it was filled with black powder. My guess is that it was powdered vine charcoal.

Just thought to check Dick Blick. They have it.

http://www.dickblick.com/zz289/10/

[Scott Shepherd]

That's my point Mike, they send the pattern, then I have to buy and ship something in just so I can use it? Someone told me a fabric supply place like Jo-Anne or Hancock fabrics would be the place, since it's a common technique used for patterns to cut fabric.

I think I'll skip it and make the acrylic templates myself.

[James Stokes]

You can take an old sock stuff a handfull of cotton balls in and then use carpenters chalk. That will work fine.

[Dee Gallo]

Just in case you ever want to use a pounce pattern again, all you need is a piece of an old sheet (like a square foot) and a container with a little chalk line powder. I mix the blue and white to make a slightly less aggressive powder. The red will never come off, but you can wash off the blue/white combo with a damp rag. Use a glove if you don't like blue fingers. Handy hint: check under the pattern after a few inches to see if you are putting too much or too little, then adjust. Too much is a pain to remove later and makes an unnecessary mess. I usually only tape the pattern at the top so I can keep it smooth easily.

Pat a SMALL amount of the powder on your sheet and just rub it lightly on the pattern (which you have prepared by checking center and level, cutting apart and taping it together if needed). Tap lightly if your dots are too small.

It's easiest if you make registration marks on a piece of tape you've put on the substrate wherever you want center/center or center/baseline. Draw the corresponding line to the end of the pattern paper and it will be easy to line up.

PS- vine charcoal is great for frescos, but it makes a horrible mess and is not great for sign work.

Pounce patterns are great for large murals and signs, but usually only if you are experienced at handpainting. It's a technique that assumes you can adjust for a shaky pouncer. Electric pounce machines are very fast and easy to use. I cannot believe they charged you that much for one pattern! Newbies tend to redraw over the pattern for straighter lines and more perfect circles.

[Joe Pelonio]

What did you need it for? First off, you can make a pounce pattern on your plotter in pounce mode, at least most of them do it. Look in the manual on your Graphtec. Chalk bags should be available at better auto body supplies, they are used for flame jobs on cars. Most people use an old sock with chalk from the hardware store as used in a chalk line as Dee mentioned.

For installing letters there are much easier ways, I mostly use a tap with the image of the bottoms of the letters that I run with a pen on the plotter. If they are letters that cannot be done on your laser, such as metal, PVC, or too big to fit in your laser, then they should also be able to supply an installation tape instead of a pounce pattern, or in the case of stud mount letters, a full pattern with drill holes marked.

[Brian Stoddard]

I do the same as Joe for installing letters - much cleaner. I have used many pounce patterns when painting letters / logos on buildings and that is where they are great.

An old sock filled with chalk works fine. Sanding the back of the pattern to open the holes more gets you a better result. Tape it up and get the chalk through the holes by "pouncing" and rubbing the sock or whatever over the pattern. On multiday jobs I sharpie over the lines to make sure they dont get washed off.

[Jack Huddle]

I know Tubelite sells them