Tutorial on framing your needlework.

Oh my poor neglected blog this month! Can you tell the weather is getting nicer? I can because I'm away from the computer more and more and my blog gets more and more lonely. lol

Anyhoo, I told Margaret (it was you, right?) that I would post some helpful hints on framing so I snapped some pics and here we go. Keep in mind - this is just how *I* do it. It's not the be all, end all of framing. When I worked at Michals as a manager in another lifetime (aka 15 years ago), I was taught to do a few things in the frame shop so I could help out when they were slammed. I always gravitated to the needlework because, well, DUH! And they were always grateful for that because most of them hated doing needlework pieces. (It's very time consuming, as far as framing goes.) So that is where I learned to do it this way. Someone who specializes in just needlework may do it differently. 

Having said all that, I've done enough pieces myself to have purchased some tools to make things go easier/quicker. You don't need these tools to frame a piece yourself but if you are going to do more than a few pieces a year it is well worth the investment to pick them up. 

You need: foam core board, stainless steel pins (like for sewing), framing points and (usually) a sawtooth hanger  for the back of the frame. (You should be able to get all of these things from Michaels.)

Other stuff that is helpful: a mat board cutter, bumper pads (for the back of the frame), and a framers point gun aka a point driver. (That last one is like a staple gun but it shoots out framing points instead of staples. And, BONUS, it doubles as a weapon against thieves if you shoot them in the neck with it.)

Cut the foam core board using a mat board cutter (or whatever you have that will do it neatly) to slightly smaller than the inside of your frame. (Measuring from the back, of course, because you don't want the mat board to fall through the front of the frame.) Enough to accommodate the fabric/pins you are going to be adding to the board. Mark the middle of each side of your board with a pencil. You need to do the same next for your needlework only with pins (this is temporary). Now you have a guide to perfectly center your piece over the board.

 

(I used sequin pins on this piece because I have a box of them leftover from another project. Quilting/sewing pins are more the norm but any non-rusting pin will do.)

Now it's a matter of pulling the piece taut (but not TOO taut) over the foam core board and placing pins down the sides to hold it fast. The first few pins take the most time because you have to adjust them to make sure everything is centered properly. Start at the top/bottom or the left/right sides (but not both at once), using those center points as a guide (you should be matching them up), with just a couple pins to start. Measure and make sure you have the same amount of distance from the edge of your needlework to the edge of the board on either side. This will take a few tries to get just right. It has to be done right or your piece will be crooked in the frame. Measure, pin, measure, adjust the pin, measure, etc. until you have the same amount showing from the edges.  Clear as mud?

Once those two sides are done, do the same to the last two sides. 

Now you should have a couple pins on each side, right in the middle of the side, with a nice amount of tension on your linen and your piece nice and centered. 

You continue on in this fashion until you reach the corners. Do 4-5 pins on one side, then go and do 4-5 on the opposite side. Go back and forth in an equal fashion. Follow the same line on your linen to keep it straight. 

Adjust if you need to as you go along if you find it's not tight enough or too loose. If it's not tight enough it will relax and get ripples in it as it changes with the humidity/weather over time. Too tight puts too much stress on it. Also, linen is a living, breathing thing so even though  you are following the same line with your pins (same as stitching with it) it doesn't always PULL completely straight. Maybe it was stretched tighter across a hoop when you were stitching it so it has more looseness in one area to the next. Linen has a memory and you might have to adjust for that as you are stretching it over the foam core board and pinning it. This particular piece was going crooked in the left corner even though I was following the same line and I had to go back and pull it up a little in that area to fix it. (It's still a tiny bit off but I got tired of messing with it.)

What you do with the extra fabric when you are done is up to you. Cut it off (makes me cringe, personally), tape it down, sew it down, leave it be if doesn't get in the way. Whatever you want. Now you want to use the framing points to snug it down in the frame good so it doesn't move about. (If you don't have a point gun, you will need the ones you push in with a screwdriver. They work just the same but are much fiddlier to get in there snug. Do yourself a favor and get a gun if you are going to be doing this regularly! It will save you more than just time.)

Finish the back off by using double stick tape or a glue stick on the edge of the frame, covering with craft paper, trimming off the excess with a razor so it doesn't overlap, and attaching your hanging device. (Don't have craft paper on hand? Paper bag it, BABY!) The self-stick rubber bumpers pads are a nice touch for the corners so it doesn't scrape your wall too. I use them on my bigger pieces that have more weight to them. (Should be able to get those at Michaels too.)

 

VOILA! A professionally framed piece that you did yourself. :)

Cabbage Bead Tutorial

Added cabbage beads to the Bead Shoppe today!

I've been filling requests for these fairly regularly and just invoicing people for them so I finally just decided to add them to the Shoppe to make it easier all around for purchasing. (SMART, I am! Only took me a month to catch a clue. lol) 

I've also had a bunch of requests on how to make them so I thought I would do a quick how-to, emphasis on the 'quick'. (Not that I have anything against going into more detail but I'm lazy and don't want to take/edit a ton of pictures so there.)

(click for bigger)

First - I use my petal puller tool (the uppermost tool pictured)** to make a ton of 'petals'. This is a quick melt and grab thing. Melt a small ball of glass at the end of your glass rod, smoosh with the tool and pull it at the same time. I lay them out on my work area (stainless steel) until they are cooled off and then put them in a little container. Make all sorts of sizes so you have a bunch to choose from.  This should be very quick and easy - you can do a ton of them in no time at all. Just remember to dunk your tool in the water every 3-4 petals to cool it off so it doesn't start sticking to the glass. NOTE: a few of the petals will crack and/or explode when cooling. You could, conceivably, take each one as you  make it and put it into your (hot) kiln to anneal them but I'm hardcore and shit and don't mind a little breakage. :)

Next up, making the actual bead. Start by making a small roundish barrel in green. How big? That's up to you partner. The bigger it is, the more petals you need, the more time it will take, and (unless you are very very vigilant) the higher the likelihood something will shoot off because you let it get too cool. I don't generally have these problems because I like to work small. :) Anyway, don't worry about getting your barrel perfect as you are going to be covering it up.

Now comes the tricky part of things. You want to grab a bigger sized petal (I grab it by the point) with your tweezers and give it a flash in your torch with one hand to warm it up while flashing your barrel bead in the torch in the area of where you want to put the petal with your other hand. I heat the end of the petal really good and then smoosh it down on one end of the barrel, pussssshing on it so it adheres really good. Keep doing that around the bead in a straight ring until it's all filled up on one end. (My cabbages usually only take 3 petals across the bottom.) Does it look messy? You betcha. It looks horrible at this point. Once this ring is done I heat each one petal up a little and flatten it out good with my mini flattener so each petal is now sticking straight out from the bead, all flat plate like, like a funky flower.  This ring is now done for the moment so  I do the whole shebang again on the next row, only this time using SMALLER PETALS as this last ring will be the top of your cabbage. (Again - my beads are fairly small so I only need two rings to a cabbage, so say 6 petals total. Sometimes 8 if I'm getting jiggy with it.) Smoosh the petals on, flatten them out, same drill as the first time. REMEMBER TO FLASH YOUR BEAD IN THE HEAT ALL THE TIME while doing this or something will fly off and maybe go down your shirt. I'm just warning ya. (It doesn't happen to me anymore, KNOCK ON WOOD, because you only have to burn your boob once before you get the whole KEEP THE BEAD WARM YOU FREAKING IDIOT lesson. *ahem*)

Now you get to play with it. Heat each petal, smash it down a little this way or that way with your micro tweezers or any other flattening type tool you have. Curl edges over, pull it out here, pull it closer there. I start with the last ring first as that is the top of the cabbage and it makes the leaves 'fall' in the right direction.You have to play with it until you like it. If the torching gods are with you, this can take just a couple minutes. If it's a bad day, you might 5+ minutes on it. Just go with it. Remember not to give it TOO MUCH heat all at once so nothing melts down to the point where it doesn't look like a leaf anymore. Easy does it. Start slow and do it in stages until you're comfortable with it. It might take you longer but you're almost guaranteed to come out with something usable that way. If you melt it down, it's ruined and you have to start over - sorry!

Practice, practice, practice. The first few will probably have you sweating bullets if you're not used to making separate components and attaching them. But once you have the motions down and it's hardwired into your head to keep everything nice and warm and you realize nothing is going to fly off and disfigure your face, it should be fairly easy. It's probably not ever going to be a bead you can make on 'auto-pilot' and you won't crank them out in a few minutes time, but it does get easier the more you do.

**A petal puller is not strictly necessary for this. Try it out with tweezers or some combo of tweezers/spatulas, etc.