Another "flattie"...Mr. and Mrs. Smith...

[Howard]

Howard,

How do you place those tiny pieces? Tweezers? Do you use regular white glue? Do you wear magnifying glasses to make these? And finally do you cut them out with an exacto knife?

I just look at your flatties and shake my head as to how is this possible.

Thank you for your help.

Lucy

Lucy...

I'll put together pix of the tools I use...along with a few notes...but will take me a few days...

Howard

[Howard]

Howard,

How do you place those tiny pieces? Tweezers? Do you use regular white glue? Do you wear magnifying glasses to make these? And finally do you cut them out with an exacto knife?

I just look at your flatties and shake my head as to how is this possible.

Thank you for your help.

Lucy

Here's the info and picture i promised...i'll let the picture tell most of the story...

Tools I use for making "flatties"...and a few notes...

Magnifying visor...

+3.00 strength magnifying reading glasses...

Xacto knife...it must be sharp and must have unbroken point...

Handle mounted needle probe...(an option is a bulletin board pushpin)...

Tweezers...

Bamboo skewers and toothpicks...for applying glue in precise areas...
(Not shown is a very small glue brush)...

Aleene's glue and ordinary white glue...Aleene's is used for most of the assembly...ordinary white glue is used to saturate and coat small layered details for extra strength...

Two part epoxy cement...used when Aleene's or white glue don't have the strength to hold or bond pieces together...like wire details and wire back braces to cardboard...

Cuticle scissors...

Needle nose pliers with wire cutter...

Emory boards and fine sandpaper...

Pen vice and bits for drilling very, very small holes...

Hope this answers your questions...if not...let me know...

My very best regards...

Howard...

[Lucy]

Thank you so much for showing these tools. I try to pretend I don't need glasses, but for making flatties I am going to get a magnifying visor like that.

I also need some tweezers that will pick up tiny pieces. And toothpicks for spot gluing. Glue blobs haunt me on all my projects.

Do you draw the pattern larger and shrink it down on a copier or do you draw it that small?

I am going to figure out how to do a lion and an owl. I am practicing drawing them now.

Thank you for sharing this, Howard.

[Howard]

Lucy...

About drawing a pattern...I usually draw it 3" tall from the top of the head to bottom of feet...then reduce to about 1 1/2" tall...I say about 1 1/2" because some are a little taller, some are slightly shorter...it really doesn't matter...what ever looks good works for me...

About your lions and owls...I suggest you do a google search for images...try "lion drawing coloring page" or "owl clip art"...I google almost every flattie subject...there's so much out there...

About the visor...there are lots of choices...mine was made by General Tools...had them for years...not sure if they still make this specific one...I've seen similar visors at hobby lobby, michaels, Joann's and harbor freight tools...of course there's always amazon...

My very best regards...

Howard...

[Howard]

greetings to all...

The Mr. and Mrs. Mmith "flattie" is finished...and much to my dismay...the fine details I drew in with colored pencil reacted with the clear poly finish and ran a little...just like the ink gel pens I've been using...going to have to find another way to detail...

My very best regards...

Howard...

[Clinton]

Excellent work Howard. I wouldn't mind having them over for a cup of coffee on a cold night for company!

[BrianB]

They turned out wonderful Howard!! Cute couple!

I have some super ultra fine pens I get from an art supply store I use for drawing on film positives for my screen printing business...theyre black ink but you may be able to get different colors. They have many different tip sizes too.
Im not sure if they would run when you spray them, but we used to spray our positives with a fixer back in the day and it didnt run.

Ill try and get some pics of them for you.
-B