Transferring A Pattern

The pattern up the right foreleg is a little complicated. The images themselves are very simple: a round flower, stem and two large curling leaves (I was studying paisley when I came up with this pattern). It's their interlocking repetition that's complicated. This is a piece of the design that needed to be completed in 3D to flush it out. Now I'm wondering, when I was originally drawing the design, "What was I thinking?" where the pattern stops.


In addition to figuring out how many of the flowers I can get on the inside of the leg, I am having trouble drawing the straight lines of the stem around the tubular shaped leg. Your eyes play tricks on you.


I finally decided to proportially increase my pattern on the computer and print it out. That way, I could place it repeatedly all around the leg, using temporary adhesive, turning and twisting them, until they fit. If you've never used temporary adhesive, you don't know what you're missing. I've had this in my basic office kit for years. The first one I bought was PaperMate. Tombow also makes one. You can get them at office supply stores.