Lights and Magnifiers for Parchment Craft

If you are having difficulty seeing the holes in the grid when you are perforating or you think your work could be neater try using a craft light and a good magnifying glass. The best sort of light is one that replicates natural daylight.

You can buy light and magnifier separately or together in one unit. They can be clipped on to a table, mat or floor standing.

You can also buy magnifiers that clip on to your glasses, or on to your head with a headband.

In my opinion both light and magnifier are absolutely essential equipment for parchment crafters.

Parchment Craft Book - Fantasy by Miki Green

This is a spiral bound book which is very useful as it lies flat on the table for tracing patterns etc.

Miki has designed 24 projects including cards, bookmarks, fans, wall decorations and lampshades, 62 pages in total.

There are six beautiful lampshade designs made using  A4 parchment paper. These lampshades are  small but they are the right size for a wine glass, beautiful as a table decoration. A battery powered tea light can be used in the wine glass, safer than a candle! Of course the patterns can be increased in size using a photocopier.

Miki uses a lot of layers of coloured parchment and vellum to create lovely effects. She also uses 3D elements and embellishments in her designs. Included in the patterns is a complete decorative alphabet so you can personalise the wall decoration with yours or family initials.

An absolutely essential book for parchment enthusiasts.

A Guide to Pergamano Grids

Pergamano grids are mostly A5 size although there are  exceptions. Some of the Multi Grids are themed for special events such as Christmas or Baby, Gift Tags, Butterflies, Borders etc. there are 33 Multi Grids at the moment but new ones are introduced frequently. They can be used for perforating and embossing and are useful for creating borders and central motifs easily.

Pergamano recommend that the Stainless Steel ball tools are used on the Multi Grids so that tools will not be damaged when used on the grid. Stainless steel ball tools come in an 'action pack' or individually, there are two, fine stylus 10032 and extra small ball 10072.

Pergamano have some plain, non-themed Multi Grids which are : 

No 04 which is an A5 straight grid  Fine

No 19 which is an A5 diagonal Bold

No 24 which is an A5 diagonal Fine

No 28 which is an A4 size straight  Bold

(It is possible to get hold of A4 size diagonal Pergamano grids second hand)

There are also the Mesh Grids, these are the original grids which are used with the Triangle and Diamond tools which come in both Perforating and Embossing versions. The Arrow tool has also been designed to use with the Mesh Grids. The Mesh Grids also have a special perforating mat that fits exactly within the frame.

A Guide to PCA FlexiDuo Grids

PCA grids are all A4 size and made of a flexible steel. I really like them because once you start perforating the parchment is fixed to the grid and won't move.

They come in BOLD and FINE size or gauge  and they each have their own set of tools  Red banded tools are Bold and Blue banded tools are Fine.

The Fine gauge is small, takes longer to use, more tricky to cut out, but makes delicate, fabulous lace. Bold is bigger, chunkier, easier to cut and it just depends what you are doing because sometimes you want a bigger, bolder look to lace.

OK, so then there are straight grids and diagonal grids, with PCA diagonal grids the holes are at 90 degrees. Essentially they are the same as the straight grids but turned diagonally. If you look at a diagonal grid and tilt your head to the left you will see that it looks the same as the straight grid!

You can buy all of these grids separately but also in double packs, the double packs come with a free mat.  The Bold double pack includes a straight and diagonal grid and the  Fine double pack also includes a straight and diagonal grid.

Recently, PCA brought out a new grid called the Honeycomb.  The Honeycomb is a lovely grid, the holes are at 60 degrees and this make it easy to produce patterns such as hexagons and octogons etc. The double pack of Honeycomb grids includes a Bold and a Fine grid. The Honeycomb grids also have a range of specially designed tools to go with them.

PCA also have a Circle and Oval grid in Bold and Fine Gauges.  All the grids can be used for perforating and they are brilliant for embossing dots if you turn the parchment over.