Hello all,
I'm new here and I have a singular purpose. I am a hobby woodworker and am getting into string inlay. this is a process where you create a thin channel in your wood and embed a thin 'string' of contrasting wood. See below.
![]( "Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5019405/uploads/editor/3l/0yjydmugzd3o.jpg")
patterns are fairly easy. Characters are not so easy. the example above was done ad-hoc by a fellow named Steve Latta who is an acknowledged master of string inlay. He basically messed around with special cutters that slice the two sides of the channel at once. His tools amount to a straightedge and a compass. I've seen him do this and he works by eye on every character in every project.
Cutting inlay with a CNC router would be childs play. But what if you don't have the $3K for a minimal system? It occurs to me that it should be possible to create a font that is not the letter or number but the instructions for making the letter or number. It would include lines, center points, vertices and such. I've seen plenty of drawings of a Roman character. What I have never seen is a whole font of those drawings.
Am I making sense? Any thoughts or suggestions? If anyone out there in the typography world would like to make such a font, I have little doubt that it could be sold.
Finally, being new to this forum, please forgive me if I've posted to the wrong place. Feel free to move this topic to where it belongs.
I'm new here and I have a singular purpose. I am a hobby woodworker and am getting into string inlay. this is a process where you create a thin channel in your wood and embed a thin 'string' of contrasting wood. See below.
patterns are fairly easy. Characters are not so easy. the example above was done ad-hoc by a fellow named Steve Latta who is an acknowledged master of string inlay. He basically messed around with special cutters that slice the two sides of the channel at once. His tools amount to a straightedge and a compass. I've seen him do this and he works by eye on every character in every project.
Cutting inlay with a CNC router would be childs play. But what if you don't have the $3K for a minimal system? It occurs to me that it should be possible to create a font that is not the letter or number but the instructions for making the letter or number. It would include lines, center points, vertices and such. I've seen plenty of drawings of a Roman character. What I have never seen is a whole font of those drawings.
Am I making sense? Any thoughts or suggestions? If anyone out there in the typography world would like to make such a font, I have little doubt that it could be sold.
Finally, being new to this forum, please forgive me if I've posted to the wrong place. Feel free to move this topic to where it belongs.