Finishing a Punch Needle and Grungy Jar Tutorial

Hello! Has anyone wondered about punch needle or making a grungy jar? I would like to share how I went about doing those very two things!


You always have to use the proper tools when doing a project. Here is a picture of my punch needle. A few years ago, I purchased this needle, a hoop (you will want the "locking lip" variety), and some lovely hand-dyed threads from The Quilted Crow so I could learn how to do punch needle. This is a fun and relatively quick-to-get-done craft and after you purchase your initial supplies, you can draw your own designs or trace them from a coloring book (as long as the design you want is relatively small) so the cost is not prohibitive, either.
Here are my threads (I still haven't used them all after a few years because I like to work on numerous projects, but they are here when I want to reach for them).Directions for working your punch needle come with the needle. It is quite easy and straight forward once you get the hang of it. Just remember to allow NO tension on your thread at all or it will pull all your little loops out! You work from the back of the design, outlining each area and then filling it in with the colors you have chosen.

Here is the last bit of punch needle I am finishing up. To this point, it had taken me about nine hours to do this design. "Wow!" you might say, "Nine hours!" but this is a "non-brain-using" project, and you can work on it with the TV on or, like I do, while waiting for kids having karate and dance lessons.

Here is the right side of the design. It measures approximately 4"x3-1/2".

Here is a better peek of the finished sheep.

Now, after your design is finished, you want to take your scissors and clip off the big loops that stick up on your design, as well as fuzzy tail ends, etc. Don't worry about doing this - it gives a professionsal finish to your design and you can't tell that anything has been clipped. Don't overdue, of course! Only the ones sticking up!

I wanted to put a aged, grungy finish on the cloth behind the sheep; I wasn't sure how I wanted to display it so I wanted to have it all ready, whatever I decided on.

Here are some coffee grounds from the morning coffee. I boiled some water in a cup, and placed the coffee filter down into it for 10 minutes or so.

The clean up was very easy since I left the grounds in the filter.

I sponged some coffee water onto the cloth, then added some of the grounds onto it to make it more aged.

Then into a 200 degree oven to dry. Watch it carefully or it will get too dark.

After I did all that, I later decided not to allow the cloth to show. I trimmed it to one-inch around the design, then sewed it to the back so it was all hidden.

Then I began to "interview" different display methods. Do I want to frame it?

Do I want it as a doll rug in my daughter's doll house?

No....I think I will make a grungy jar. The first thing I did was type in "Grungy Jar Tutorial" in the computer to search. I really didn't find anything that would help me with the nuts and bolts, and no pictures...so I set out to use the little information I found and made my own jar. I thought you might find what I did to be helpful for making your own jar.

SUPPLIES:

You need a glass jar (I used a 1 1/2 quart canning jar), some Mod Podge, a sponge brush (I used the 1-inch size, but up to 2-inch size would be fine), ground cinnamon or nutmeg, and instant and/or regular coffee grounds. I had a little bit of REALLY old instant espresso, but not instant coffee since we use ground fresh coffee, so I used the espresso and coffee grounds with lovely results.

Sprinkle out, oh, maybe 1/8 cup of your spice and about the same of coffee grounds onto a styrofoam plate or piece of aluminum foil and mix together. Pour some Mod Podge onto a piece of plastic wrap, styrofoam plate, or aluminum foil. Working one section at a time, paint a thin layer of Mod Podge on your jar. If you use too much it will run down and won't look nice. Roll your jar into your spice/coffee mixture; you may even have to use your hands to sprinkle the stuff onto your jar and pat it down. Continue the process all around your jar. I avoided the area where I wanted my punch needle because I didn't want to run the risk of the coffee eventually staining my work. If you are wanting maybe a label or a square of cloth and you don't mind it getting darker from the spices and coffee, then cover the entire jar. (The "jury" is still out on whether the spices and coffee will seep through the Mod Podge eventually...I am just assuming it might).

I also left the bottom untouched so it wouldn't make marks all over where it was setting on later.

Wash out your sponge brush and let dry. Don't dust off any of the spices/coffee yet. Let it dry well for several hours. No sense being impatient and ruining your project!

Now, after it has dried tap on the jar to remove excess spice dust, pour yourself some more Mod Podge and repeat the process which you did before: lightly paint jar with Mod Podge, one section at a time, and sprinkle/pat with more spice/coffee.

Wash out sponge brush, let jar dry several hours.

If you are seeing light through your jar, you may want one more coat. I found two coats of spice/coffee to be adequate for myself, so I stopped here.

When it has dried thouroughly, tap off excess spices and inspect closely to see if you are satisfied with the coverage. If you are, you now want to paint a final sealing coat of Mod Podge over your project. Let this dry for several hours. I actually did my jar over the course of two days. It was effortless, really, as long as you are not expecting to finish with it all at once! Really the work time itself was probably 30 minutes total...the drying time is what takes the patience!

Now, I thought I was going to have to seal the jar a final time with an acrylic clear spray because Mod Podge is sort of "tacky" on different projects I have done, but there was no "tackiness" to the finish after it was all dried. Perhaps because the spices soaked up the tacky! Who knows! But I did not have to use the spray to seal it. At this point, it was all ready to "doll up."

I used a glue gun to attach my punch needle to the space I hadn't covered. I grunged up a piece of muslin using just wet coffee grounds rubbed into the cloth, hung it outside for 30 minutes to dry, then finished drying the muslin by ironing it (of course if it is still wet you'll want to put a towell under it so you don't stain your ironing board with the "grunge"). I tied the cloth on with a piece of 4-ply jute string.

Here is my jar! It reminds me of a lovely cinnamon roll! It has a nice texture. I am very happy with it!

Thank you for going along with me on my project. This was a lot of fun, and I think I will do some more jars to hold candles - I think the light shining through the spice would be very lovely.

Have a nice day!

C. C.