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9.10 Plotting away from home
Occasionally, it is the case that the subject that one is writing – for example a
name, initials, return address, or signature – is both small compared to a page of
paper and needs to be positioned precisely.
One approach is to treat this as a normal page, and to position the text on your
document carefully. It can help to place a separate “sacrificial” piece of paper
over your workpiece to check if you have your artwork lined up in the right plac-
es.
A separate approach is to line up your artwork to the Home Corner in your doc-
ument, and to place the area of the document where you wish to print right
underneath the tip of the pen. For signing the valentine card above – where the
entire text consists of two words – one could position the position to start writ-
ing (the upper-left corner of the word “me”) directly beneath the pen tip.
Extending this idea further, you can even “plot away from home” by starting out
not at the Home Corner, but from some midway point (a “virtual” home corner)
where the pen can reach to other parts of the document. For example, one
could manually walk the carriage to X=3 inches, and you could use that as the
starting point for your plot. After each plot, the carriage would return home to
that position. Use great care when using this method that your drawing does not
exceed the now more limited range available from that position.
