Getting Started with Parchment Craft

This week at Ecstasy Crafts we've really had parchment craft on our minds.

Ecstasy Crafts has been offering parchment craft supplies for 25 years, and the Pergamano brand has been going strong all this time. We are still offering new tools and inks to support this craft, alongside parchment craft supplies from other brands (more on this in a bit), but we wanted to feature some of the products that don't always get a spotlight anymore: technique books and pattern booklets that feature a wide variety of techniques for all skill levels. These books are extra special because they are no longer being printed, making them harder-to-find treasures that offer a fabulous overview of the craft alongside techniques and tips that are evergreen.

For anyone who is already prepared to dive in and explore what Pergamano has to offer, you can find our Pergamano category here>>

Not sure what parchment craft looks like? Take a look at some of these beautiful creations by one of our favourite designers: Heather Attwater.

Designs by Heather Attwater

Because we focus so much on papercrafting and mixed media here on the blog, we recognized that many of you may not be familiar with parchment crafting. This beautiful and intricate craft can be intimidating! You might be asking yourself "what tools do I really need to get started?", so we thought this was a perfect opportunity to share some fantastic videos with you, all collected here in one place. We didn't produce the videos you will see below, they are from Create & Craft TV and Pergamano, but they lay out the basic techniques so well that we want to share them as a fantastic resource to get you started on your parchment crafting journey. Once you've watched the videos, be sure to scroll down even further so we can discuss other options for getting started with parchment crafting (spoiler alert: we're going to be talking about Groovi)

Now, go ahead and brew yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy the videos!

In Part 1, Rossella gives us an introduction to Parchment Craft telling us about the history, giving us some tips and tricks and explains the materials used.

In part 2, we will learn some beautiful embossing techniques with ball tools and shaders

In Part 3, Rosella takes us step-by-step perforating and snipping your parchment using needle tools

In Part 4 we learn about grid work in Parchment craft. In this lesson we see how to use multigrids, straight grids and diagonal grids

In the last lesson, Rosella shows us how to effectively use colours on our Parchment Crafts, especially Perga Colours

Now that you've had a chance to watch all these Pergamano videos, we know that you are a pro parchment crafter! If that's the case, you can head on over to our Pergamano category and browse the supplies you need to get started>>

If you're still feeling shy about diving into parchment crafting with Pergamano, there is another option: the Groovi parchment crafting system.

The Groovi system is based on a series of plates with, well, grooves. That's right, no tracing required! If you are a beginner or you don't have the steady hands you need to trace and emboss on parchment using only a pattern, Groovi is the way to go. Here's what a plate looks like:

Groovi Birds and Landscape Plate.

The grooves in the plate allow you to trace over the pattern with your Groovi embossing tool without slipping, skipping or otherwise producing a messily embossed line. Using a plate like the one above, you can create beautiful embossed creations like this:

To show you how it works, we have another video to share! Check out this video from Claritystamp to see exactly how to work with Groovi tools:

Barbara Gray introduces the Groovi Plate system for parchment crafting.

If you are interested in the starter kit that Barbara was demonstrating in the video, you can find it here>>

Well, we hope this post was informative! Are you a parchment crafter? We would love to see some of your creations. Leave us a link to your blog, or post your pics to Instagram with the hashtag #ecstasycrafts. If you don't have a blog or Instagram, feel free to email me your creations at sara@ecstasycrafts.com and we will we happy to share them on our Facebook page.

Happy crafting!

Sara