Embossing an Oval Shape on to Parchment

Embossing an oval or circle shape on to parchment is really difficult to get right. First of all you have to trace it from the pattern in white pencil, then turn the parchment over and emboss the line. The long curved line needs a steady hand and it is always best to turn the parchment frequently and steady the side of your hand on a surface while you arc the embossing tool or pencil. Find a position that is comfortable for your hand and try to do the arc quickly and smoothly.  On the new free pattern above I tried the tracing method and got a fair result. I also tried one of the PCA embossing templates for oval shapes and the result was much better and easier (this is the result above). The embossing templates are plastic and once they are fixed in position with tiny balls of blu-tac under the parchment, you can use the ball tool to follow the template and create a perfect oval or circle etc. they come in many different shapes and sizes. If you have a tip to help drawing shapes on parchment please comment below.

Free pattern now available here.

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.

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.

The New Pergamano Embossing Mat Excellent

The new Pergamano Embossing Mat Excellent is pink and comes packed in a cardboard tube. All embossing mats are different - the dense foam type tends to be a bit softer than the rubber mats - the new Pergmano mat seems to be somewhere in the middle, softer than a rubber mat but harder than a foam type mat. It is a good size 30 x 40 cm and is very flexible and quite thin - it does not slip on the table. So far, I have used this mat with a ball tools, shaders and hockey stick and it gives good results with all. I think I have found an embossing mat that suits me. Click here.

Parchment Craft Tools Are You Confused?

This picture shows PCA twin needle tool(on the right) and a mini stamp edge tool (on the left). Both tools can be used for edgings however when using the twin needle tool you would also require parchment scissors to snip the holes into a neat picot edge. The mini stamp edge tool cuts as it perforates and, although it is a lot quicker, the result isn't so neat. PCA mark their edging tools with coloured rings at the tool end so it is easy to tell them apart. PCA make these tools in two sizes Bold and Fine.

Pergamano make a 2Needle tool (similar to the twin needle) and a 2Split tool (similar to the mini stamp edge). To identify them look on the end of the handle the 2Needle shows two dots set apart, whereas the 2Split shows two dots joined.

The 4Needle version of these tools are called a Quad-Row and a Stamp Edge by PCA. The Pergamano alternatives are called 'Straight Four' and the edging tool is a 4Split.

If you have the older blue handled Pergamano tools and are not sure whether you have a Straight Four or 4Split, you should be able to tell just by perforating a scrap of parchment if the holes are so close together that they cut the parchment you have a 4Split tool.

What is the Arrow Tool for?

This picture shows an Arrow tool on the right and a Diamond perforating tool on the left.

I always understood that the single needle tool was for perforating either freehand or using the grids. The Arrow tool however does the same job though maybe not as fine.

The Arrow tool was designed to be used with the Easy Grid (mesh type grid) it can be used on both the regular and the fine mesh as it has a conical, round point. The Arrow tool makes a small round hole in the parchment, if you want square holes the Diamond perforating tool is the one you want and of course the Triangle perforating tool makes small, triangular holes. These tools work with the both mesh grids and are all made by Pergamano.

I have also used the Arrow tool successfully for making holes for brads and stippling.

Parchment Craft Scissors and Cutting Tools

Scissors or Snips
There are several different parchment craft scissors available. They vary greatly in price from about £4.00 to about £40.00 but it is important to have snips or scissors with fine points; decoupage scissors are not fine enough to cut the accurate, neat points required. Parchment craft scissors and snips usually have slightly curved points, the curve should be held downwards when you cut.

Snips or cutters are fairly easy to use, you just squeeze them, there are some cutters that have an adjustable wheel that can be set to the width you are cutting. Some people prefer snips if they have arthritis or strain in the hand / arm muscles.

Scissors are held with the right index finger and the right middle finger (if you are right-handed) and braced with the thumb. The aim is to snip between the perforations you have prepared to leave a neat V shape. It is a good idea to practise this technique, there are several 'YOU TUBE' demonstrations to help. Some people have told me that they get a better finish with scissors but in the end use whatever suits you best.

Edges can be made quickly with the stamp edge tools (PCA), and the equivalent Pergamano 2 Split and 4 Split. These tools will punch holes really closely so that the parchment falls away as you perforate. The edging however, is not as neat as that produced by the longer method of perforating and cutting.

Crosses can be cut with the Cross Knife /Easy Cross and a cutting mat, I have not tried this method, you still have to perforate the holes with a four needle tool and then position the cutter and press down. If anyone has tried the cross knife let me know if they cut crosses neatly.

Pergamano and PCA Tool Compatability Guide

Manufacturers of tools for parchment craft often have different names for the same tool. For example a Pergamano Star Tool is similar to a PCA Sun Tool and Pergamano Fine Stylus is similar to a PCA Micro Ball. For a complete guide to help you identify the interchangeable ones see this Information Sheet

Guide and Troubleshooter for Mapping Pens and Nibs

Buying a mapping pen for parchment craft:

There are three main makes of mapping pen available: Pergamano, PCA (Parchcraft Australia) and Conte. Conte have the finest nib and this is good for white ink and coloured inks but a fine nib does get clogged more easily so a Pergamano nib or a PCA nib can be a better choice with metallic ink. However, a fine nib is not the only reason for a fine tracing line, it is the way it is used.

How to use /hold the pen:

Mapping pens are used for tracing, the aim is to get a really fine line. To do this you need to practise holding the pen almost upright and gliding across the parchment. If you press down it will result in a thicker line.

Before you use a new nib:

There are several ideas to try, some people recommend that new nibs should be dipped in boiling water, others say soak them in alcohol or hot soapy water, another way to condition new nibs is to soak them in bicarbonate of soda and boiling water or even holding a nib in a match flame (do be careful if you try this one).

Ink:

If you haven't used your bottle of ink for a while it might need mixing, you should be able to hear a ball bearing rattling around in white ink, pastel and metallics. They need a good shake to mix them up, however the resulting bubbles on top of the ink when you dip your pen may cause a blot on the parchment. Coloured inks just need a gentle roll in the hand to mix.

How to fill a pen:

• White Tinta Ink, coloured inks
Always wash the nib in water and then dry it before dipping into the ink, or just wipe the nib on a damp sponge front and back, before dipping. Do this every time you refill the pen.
Dip the pen into the ink up to the hole or eye in the nib, if you have overfilled the nib the ink will not run, it may even blot.
• Metallic Tinta Ink
Use a plastic stirrer to get to the bottom of the ink bottle stir it around and drip a very small amount of the ink onto the nib. Always clean your nib before refilling it with more ink.

Nib maintenance:

Normal use means that we touch nibs all the time to wash, store, replace them into their holders. The natural oils from your hand will get on the nib. Use wet wipes to remove these oils.

Troubleshooting:
Ink won't run freely from the nib
- if it is a new nib try the conditioning ideas,
- are you putting too much ink on the nib when you dip?
- are you pressing too hard on the nib?
- is the ink old and thickened (thin it down with a drop of water)
- metallic ink may run better on an old, well used nib

Blots on the parchment
- air bubbles in the ink
- too much ink on the nib

Pen won't glide
- the nib may be blocked up, wash and dry it
- the ink may be too thick

Nib falls out of pen holder
- try to ease the nib out at the base so that it fits better
- try another pen

Tracing can also be done with a white pencil, a fine tip pen, such as a gel pen, precision pen or micron pen but mapping pen and ink is the traditional method. It depends what effect you want in the end.

Parchment Craft Essentials

When you start a hobby such as parchment craft where the range of equipment required is quite large, it is often difficult to decide what to buy first. If you have seen a pattern you really want to try, it will have a list of special tools and equipment required for that pattern but there are essentials that you probably cannot do without.

Parchment 140,150,160gsm
For tracing: a white pencil, white Tinta ink and a mapping pen and a ruler

For embossing: a range of ball tools or shaders and a sun/star tool and an embossing mat.

For perforating: a single and twin needle tools and a thick perforating mat, scissors or snips

Colouring: I think I would go for a pack of pencil crayons first and a pencil sharpener of course

Don't forget that if you want to buy a grid make sure that your perforating tools are the same make. PCA tools fit PCA grids and Pergamano tools fit Pergamano grids.

Which embossing mat is the best?

There are a lot of embossing mats to choose from, hard rubber mats, softer foam mats, felt mats. These are all thinner than the perforating mats which are 10mm or more. If you are in a position to try out different mats at a workshop you can see which ones suit you,but if this is not possible the following may be useful. If you feel you are 'heavy handed' then a harder embossing mat will probably suit you, for example, a rubber mat. It is also important to keep your embossing mat for embossing and nothing else. If you perforate patterns on an embossing mat the indentations on the mat can prevent a smooth result when embossing.

Parchment

I mostly use 150gsm and 160gsm plain parchment paper for my projects. One of the problems I had when I started out was that the parchment buckled and curled and sometimes the natural oils on my hands marked the parchment.

Most of these problems disappear when you get used to parching. For example, it is often a good idea to rest your hand on a piece of folded kitchen roll, protecting the parchment from oils and heat from the skin.

A beginner may not yet have developed a lighter touch because the work demands a high level of concentration and so it is difficult to relax. This improves the more you practise.

Certainly it is not a good idea to put moisturising lotion on your hands and then work on your parchment! Unless of course you are going to wear gloves!

Paints, Pencils and Ink

Pergamano Tinta Inks

These are water based inks, the white ink is opaque but the colours are translucent - they can all be used for tracing but the inks can also be used for painting and give a matt finish. The metallics are also great for tracing.

Pergamano Dorso Pastels

Dorso pastels can create beautiful backgrounds on the reverse of the parchment. Together with a medium such as dorso oil or zest it or white spirit and a piece of kitchen roll, two colours can be merged together giving a smooth, colour changing background. Pastels can also be used on the front of the parchment.

Pintura Paint

Unlike inks, that have a matt effect, Pintura paints give a glossy finish they are also water based paints and they dry very quickly. It is probably a good idea to start off with a tear off palette and brush and a very small amount of paint (one drop).

Pinta Perla Paints

These pearlescent paints can be mixed with Pintura, so I find the white Pinta Perla very useful for mixing and making a pearlescent paint. Daler Rowney also make beautiful pearlescent paints.

Perga Colors

These are water based felt tip pens and can be mixed on a palette. Letraset also have a great range of water based pens.

Perga Liners

These are pencil crayons, the combi box provides both oil based pencils to seal the parchment and water based pencils for colouring over the top.

There are many makes of pencil crayons available, Faber Castel, Lyra etc.

Mapping Pens

Have you ever had trouble trying to get your mapping pen to work nicely? This is advice from my experience with pens and ink:

I started off with a Pergamano mapping pen. The nibs were a bit scratchy and I found I was putting rather too much ink on the nib, you should only load to the hole in the nib. I have had problems making the ink flow on the parchment, it seems that I couldn't trace without blobs appearing or no ink at all. The answer may be a new nib, the advice is to rinse the new nib carefully in soapy water before you start, also make sure that the white ink is shaken until you hear the ball rattling. With coloured inks just twist them gently to mix.

I have also tried the PCA mapping pen and nibs and have had similar problems, too much or too little ink on the parchment and a scratchy feel to the pen. I have been advised to hold the pen lightly and glide over the parchment keeping the pen as upright as possible and positioned so that you get a very thin line.

I have now tried a Conte mapping pen and so far have not had any problems, the nibs are probably more expensive as you buy them singly, but I suppose that it is worth while if the tracing is smoother and finer and more accurate. Anyone else got any advice?

Hockey Sticks

I have been practising using the hockey stick embosser. Pergamano make the hockey stick and I have two, one is the new pink handled one and the other is the older silver handled one.

I have found that the older version seems easier to use and I'm not really sure why. Visually the handle is shorter, and the hockey stick end has a fractionally different angle. However it is not easy to buy an older hockey stick unless you know someone who has one and you can try it out.

I have found excellent advice on how to use the hockey stick on Kanni's DVD Embossing:

Embossing with a Star Tool / Sun Tool

How to use a star tool (Pergamano) or sun tool (PCA)

Press the tool gently onto the parchment and move your hand in a circle. This works best for me in an anti-clockwise circle, but I am right handed. If I use a clockwise circle I get an ellipse!

A thinner harder mat is better for embossing.

Guide to Alternative Tools

As a beginner I have found that I have bought equipment required for a particular project only to find when I received the tools I already have a similar item by a different manufacturer. This is a guide to the tools that I have found to be similar but named differently.

PCA Pergamano
Sun tool = Star tool
Stamp edge = Split tool
Micro ball = Fine stylus
Micro shader = Shader 0.8mm
Mini shader = Shader 1.0mm
Fine scallop edge = Semi circle

Perforating grids

There are quite a few grids available and I do not claim to be an expert. This is a beginners guide to grids, feel free to comment or correct me if I have got any information wrong.

There are three main manufacturers of grids : PCA, Pergamano and Siesta.

Traditional grids are mesh in a plastic frame, they come in regular and fine grade with a special perforating mat which fits in the frame. The grid enables you to produce accurate perforations. These are made by Pergamano and Siesta.

PCA
Steel flexi-duo grids seem to have advantages over the older mesh grids. You can emboss dots for example and the the holes are easy to see and line up. I prefer the A4 size and I love the way the perforations fix the parchment in place whilst you are working.

Pergamano
Pergamano also make steel grids, straight and diagonal, however they are not interchangeable with PCA grids. For example if a design specifies using a Pergamano diagonal grid a PCA diagonal grid will not work in the same way.

Siesta have a wide range of grids for specific borders and patterns and motifs.

Parchment Tools

This is a beginners guide to parchment craft tools, there are vast array of tools and it is not necessary to buy them until you need them. The association of parchment craft has some advice on the basic equipment you need. http://www.associationofparchmentcrafters.co.uk/
The tools separate into roughly three areas: embossing, perforating and edging.

Embossing

Embossing tools whiten the parchment. They are usually either a ball shape or a shader which has a loop shaped like a spoon. They come in various sizes from a large size (mega ball or mega shader ) to a small size (micro ball or micro shader) embossing tools are also used for stencilling. A scriber has a sharpish point and is used for lines and stippling. Sun tools emboss a circle shape like a small flower.

Perforating

Perforating tools pierce the parchment in various patterns. PCA make two types: fine tools and bold tools. A single needle tool, however, will create all the patterns but it may take more time.

Edging

Edging tools pierce the parchment in a scallop pattern or v pattern. The stamp edge creates a perforation that will tear easily. A neater finish can be obtained by using parchment scissors.