The Armourer Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Hello. I have recently been going over some touchmark designs to use for myself and have one idea which I think might work and I will show it below. I just scribbled it on a piece of paper lol. This is as complex as I can do. Any advice or criticism is welcome. The ff is for Fehr Forgeworks, Fehr being my last name. The helmet design is based on my forst helmet I ever made, 2 years ago about and I have used it as a logo before, in school and such. Do you think I should include the ff? Will it work? Thanks and if this is in the wrong place then moderators, please move it or delete it if you see fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 I'd go with out the helmet. Remember, what looks good as a sketch on paper can really get sucky fast when you scale it down to something appropriately sized for a maker's mark. Also, you have to take into account the type of surface the stamp will be going on. Nicely polished knife blades can show a lot of detail. Rougher finished like you see on a lot of forged work.... well, the detail is lost in all the muck and mire of the surface.The 2 F's are good. Play around with different fonts to see what looks good. Shrink the size down so you don't have something that would completely overwhelm a smaller piece. Keep it simple and clean instead of gimmicky. Professionalism is about the quality of the work and you don't want to get "typecast" as it were because people see your logo and think you're all about making armor and not candle stands or other household wares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 What Vaughn said. Keep it simple. It will show up better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Armourer Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 Thanks, I appreciate the advice, I will play around with the f's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 also looking at existing marks the double F is going to be hard to not be a copy of an existing one, but you knew that already. good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 What they said. Keep it simple and non-gimmicky, a pro doesn't need gimmicks.While you're playing with double Fs consider two font sizes and arranging them creatively. If done correctly you might be able to suggest a helm in a small enough touch mark. For an off the top thought. A slanted F resembles the visor and eye slit, so how about another F that starts at the bottom of the eye slit and extends above to represent a pennon or crest?It's obviously a double F, however looked at a certain way suggests a helm. If you point the out resemblance the viewer's mind will fill in the bits to make it look like a helm.Just a thought though, the more I reread my idea the less I like it. Nothing new there. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 If you put one capital F backwards right against a second F you'd get a symbol that looks somewhere between a dragonfly and a set of wings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neg Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 (edited) think it's great. The Fs raised up a little bit look like a shoulder with pauldrons. It scales okay, as long as you don't want it super small. Edited July 13, 2015 by neg Clean up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 To give you an example of what you might run into with larger and more complicated designs, I just mailed out a small leaf-style blade to a fellow. The whole thing was only 1.25" wide, at best, and was covered with hammer texture to give it that primitive look. There was no place to put a large maker's mark and the uneven texture precluded using anything complicated or detailed.On a blade that's not very big, even if it's polished to a mirror shine, a large maker's mark really detracts from the look of the piece. I've seen folks that cover most of the cheek with their full name, the 'blade smith' title, and their city/state. The idea is that they want people to be able to find them and buy knives from them.... but they do it at the expense of the appearance of their work, and limit themselves to just blades that are highly finished and large enough to fit their billboard mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neg Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I totally agree with you when it comes to blades. I only have my one touchmark, it has my logo and then my name under it. I love the way it looks, but on my blades I'd like to get one with just my name. On metal work other than blades though, I think the bigger and more elaborate the touchmark, the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Armourer Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 Thanks for the replies and help. I agree VaughnT, the size will be an issue, thnk you. Also, thanks neg for the design you finished for me. I like that ff, but I just don't want people to think it symbolizes the swastika or nothing eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) You might consider rotating the helmet 90 degrease to the fromt and making it a bit more stylized. Just the minimum to be recognisable as a helm. The double "f"s are a problem, changing to gothic from ittalics/copper point helps but you will always have an issue. Edited July 15, 2015 by Charles R. Stevens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Armourer Posted July 15, 2015 Author Share Posted July 15, 2015 Thanks Charles. I have some things to chew on regarding a touchmark, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo7 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 Imo too much detail in helmet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Two capital "F" back to back, looks like a helmet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 One F at a 45 degree angle - the other F vertical coming off the top F. Something a bit like this? All the best Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Armourer Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Thanks Andy, I like some of those, I will play with those a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everything Mac Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 It appears I simply drew what Frosty was suggesting earlier on. Great minds and all that. Best of luck with it. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I was envisioning the second F being the high one but this one is pretty cool too. It's principle of brainstorming to toss out the first thing that comes to mind and sort the bounty.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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