Crafting Tip of the Week#171- Paper Piercing Perfection

...yes, paper piercing perfection crafters. It's over-rated the art of piercing right? Well, not really but sometimes getting it right can be as much of pain as stabbing your finger with the piercing tool.

For today's tip I hope to take the stigma out of it for you so you can reach paper piercing perfection in 2 easy steps.

Ready...here goes: 

1- USE FOAM AS YOUR BASE UNDER YOUR PIERCING MEDIUM. Whether it's paper, plastic, fabric, vinyl the FOAM will be of great help.

The foam provides a great barrier between your fingers and of course your actual crafting surface. You should still use a cutting mat but you will get one with a lot less scratches, raised bumps or tiny holes from your piercer. It also allows for steady, controlled insertion & removal of your piercing tool for more even and uniformed stitched holes.

You can purchase  inexpensive fun foam you can find at arts & crafts stores, Walmarts and/or Targets and keep it on hand.

2-GRAB A HOLD OF ONE OF THESE: 

THEY ARE PLASTIC NEEDLEPOINT CANVAS MESH.  These will help give you even, straight & perfectly aligned piercing holes every time. Any of these will work for random piercing. If you are looking to pierce those shapes specific to the canvas mesh,  they will be of greater assistance then.

Best thing is you can pierce that same shape in many sizes by simple selection. You can use a pencil, pen or marker in place of the piercer first to draft your shape. The closer to the center of the canvas mesh you are the smaller your shape will be. You can remove the mesh, review the "draft" then if you are happy with it-proceed to piercing. ( OR...leave as is)
You must use the PLASTIC MESH. It provides a little more stability & rigidity than the other ones on market. I believe there are ones of varying materials like raw canvas, burlap & materials.
The plastic ones are lightweight but have more stability within each of its' tiny "walls". Not to mention they are easy to store & work with as well.

These can be found in craft stores like Joann's, Michael's, A.C. Moore &  Hobby Lobby but I am not sure about Walmart & Target. I know they have them online as well at Consumer Crafts.

Both the foam & the canvas mesh are relatively inexpensive averaging from .29 cents & up (U.S.) for one sheet of foam to .59 cents & up (U.S.) for the canvas mesh. Pricing varies depending on retailer & size you select of the product.

Personally, I think they are a relatively inexpensive solution to  sometimes pesky problems with piercing. Two well known ones being the proverbial accidental pricking of the finger and misalignment.

If you are plagued with the same piercing dilemmas give this tip a try.
*Painless Paper Piercing Recipe*
1-Cutting Mat
2-Fun Foam
3-Plastic Canvas Mesh

Until next time,