Thursday, August 04, 2016

~ Tricks & Treats ~

Yes, I know.
early for Hallowe'en ~
but, 
when you're in my line of 'work'
you must be one step ahead of the season...

So
here is the 'almost' finish of one of two new punch needle designs I'll be releasing very soon:
BUT 
before I show you the entire design,
I thought I'd share a few tricks that I've learned in my 20+ years of doing punch needle ~

 a couple of simple ways to make your little loops behave better.

Some of you have asked me how I get my lettering so clear…
or how I avoid 'blending' the loops of the lettering with the loops of the background.
My simple answer would be to first be very careful of where your needle tip is going,
 being conscious of the existing loop underneath {or on the 'front' of your work} so that you don't accidentally splice the previous loop.

as you can see in the photo below, when I flipped my project over to the front ~ 
that has happened, and it does happen to everyone ~ OH YES IT DOES!
no matter how careful we are!




see?
where my sewing-needle is pointing to the letter 'm'
 and how I spliced the darker thread with the lighter thread while outlining it?

I do this to fix it:

I use that sewing-needle to gently work the blended threads apart!





 by carefully running the tip of a sewing-needle {or pin} along the 'channel' or 'ditch' between the contrasting rows of thread {this is the finished or front side of my work}
 it will seemingly be more defined, as you can see in the photo below.
YAY!




So that was trick number Uno.

trick numeral Deux is this:

when working with different height loops, or 'dimensional' punching
ALWAYS punch the lowest details of your work FIRST…

like the smiling Jack-o below, for example;
see how his eyes, nose & mouth have been punched on a lower setting?





by punching all of the low-looped details first, then moving on to the higher loops to fill,
you're left with a nice clear difference between the varying loop heights.

THEN if need be, 
use the sewing-needle tip that I mentioned above to define the rows
between low & high loops…


silly-grin


and here is tip #3 ~

sometimes I don't want to try to punch teeny tiny details such as eyeballs or teeth,
SO
I will use my sewing-needle again but this time it is threaded! 
and I will use it to surface-embroider those details instead
like:

eyeballs = french knots
teeth = super-small straight stitches


hello!

so those are my 'tricks' for you today ~

I know some of you who have taken my classes are familiar with these already ~
but thought I could be of help to those who are just starting on their journey into punch needle :)

Rain & humidity but almost cooler breezes today…
I swear I caught the fleeting scent of woodsmoke this morning.


~ Blessings from the Farm ~
 Lori

12 comments:

gracie said...

Lori, Thank you so much for this tutorial. There are some of us who can not take your classes so this helps greatly...I live in Arizona so it is a bit far to drop in!

rx2massey said...

Thanks for the tips, Lori!

Anonymous said...

Great tips! Sniff. I smell woodsmoke, too. Have a great day, Lori! LOVE your new header/banner with the witches and the Norwegian spinning wheel! <l:)

Anonymous said...

Oh! And how you added the brooms and your recent EWM pieces…the one in the window! Tricks!

Sue Stark said...

Thanks Lori! I appreciate the tips, as my finished pieces always seem to have overlapping loops and in the past when trying to correct them, I have pulled them free and really hate it when that happens!! Many thanks!

Debra said...

Thank you, Lori. Your tips are very helpful, especially since I seem to have problems with punching small details.

Janet said...

Thank you Lori! Please share how to get a hoop tight.

The Bear's Blog said...

Thank you for these tips, they certainly will be helpful for me.

Hugs

elaine allerton said...

Great tips, lori,,,, as a newbie I need some tips,, because it happens alot! Have not done letters yet,,,, but will when the first needle punch comes this month,, from the punch needle club,,,, will definitely remember,,,, thanks,, keep cool,,,,

Saundra said...

I will be hooking that Be Goode witch in September with Kris Miller as the teacher. Will send you a photo of the finished piece when it is all done.

HomeSpunPrims said...

All great tips, Lori! Thank you so much!! Lori

Hunny Crafts Primitives said...

The needle tip is brilliant as I have had this happen to me and have not known what to do ~ but now I do, thank you Lori. And the dimensional punching tip also very handy to know and the embroidering the small details ~ genius again thank you I will be trying these out.