Eyelet questions and pathetic tale of woe.

LOL Ally! I'm also banging away, no gentle tapping here. But I have noticed that when I give firm straight bangs, it works better. Can't help you with the measuring q's, I just make a hole and so far by miracle it all fits :)))

Judy, SA

I'm sorry for your trouble!! When I go to "measure" which head I need to punch a hole for an eyelet I just hold the back side of the eyelet (the side you smash) to the hole maker. If they are the same size then that's the one I use. I also use as Judy said straight firm strokes. Just one or two hard whacks is all it takes. I did learn that it is best to have a firm surface on which to be doing this. I learned that a T.V. tray is not good, takes too many whacks as does the carpeted floor. However if you move to a carpeted floor to do this just use a wooden cutting board under your little cutting mat, that does help (aske me how I know this! :) ) Good luck!!

Ally, I've found that some of the eyelets (depending on brand) are virtually indestructable. I usually end up just pounding the back directly w/ the hammer once the edge roles a little. If you got a universal set w/ assorted sized tips and they're not labeled I can't believe they haven't had a number of complaints about it. I just have one size, small (see I don't even know the dimmension lol). If I have a larger eyelet I just kinda stretch the hole for it to fit.

Katrina in KS

LOL!! Ally you are a hoot, and ALREADY a FLASS!!!

I hated that little hammer that is made SPECIFICALLY for eyelets. I too found some that I think were made from STEEL instead of aluminiun.

Anyhow that little hammer went elsewheres and i went to the local hardware store and bought a small household hammer. It is a bit heavier and only takes ONE whack. Then I mash the back the rest of way down with the hammer, with ONE whack!! MUCH LESS pouding and yes I know, I am losing out on the venting stress part with LESS WHACKING!!! LOL!

nada for 05 (unless redoing and adding to some pages counts!)

OKC Dave

hahaha Hi Ally,

My husband went to bed early one evening and I continued to scrap. He came out to see if the "Little shoe makers" had invaded our house. So, I know what you mean about the noise.

First off I have to say that I've found some eyelet to be harder metal than others. Also eyelet setting needs to be done on a firm surface I have found. I have a plastic folding table from Costco thinking it would be a great crafting table, but with eyelets the hammer does a lot of bouncing off and bending in of the table. And with stamping the table bends. The plastic is just too flexible for me.

Also the type of hammer I've found really makes a difference. The little hammer sold with most sets is too small with not a lot of omph behind it. I had been using the regular hammer from my tool box and it work great if not big and clunky. Then I found a hammer quite by accident while at Home Depot that was called a "Lady's Hammer." It's bigger than the eyelet hammer yet smaller than a regular hammer and it works GREAT with eyelets.

As far as knowing the sizes to use I use the setter that matches in size with the eyelet I want to set. The part of the eyelet you're going to pound... the back of the eyelet. I match up the setter to it and that seems to work well. I use the size hole punch that matches as well.

Hope this helps. And keep at it. You didn't sound pathetic at all. We all started out using our eyelets in a similar fashion.

I don't know the actual sizes but I too take the hole punch and match it up to the size of the punch the best I can. So far I had luck doing it. All I know is it takes a lot of banging to get the eyelet set. One day DH was on the phone talking to his mother and I was in the background banging away and she asked if I was rebuilding the house. But once she came over and saw the card I made she thought all the banging was worth it. A good place I found that sells eyelets online is Bizzybees.com and she ships fast.

Chrissy

I love

too. They are really fast and have some special shapes like the Halloween ones I just love. Lynne

LOL Dave. I can see you whacking away now. I ,too bought a little cute hammer with my first eyelet setter and ended up trading it to Fred for one of his regular small hammers. Works great! My little hammer was so cute ,though. It was brass and just the right size. I don't think Fred has used it al all!

Hugs, Sabrina in Kentucky

a good friend is a life long treasure

Well it sounds like you've got all your questions answered Ally, so I won't add to the answers. Except to back up what others have said...make sure the table you're working on is solid and doesn't give. I'm so glad you're starting to use eyelets!!! hehehehehe (we're such enablers here) Eyelets are fun, and it just takes some practice before you figure out how hard to whack your eyelet. When I first started using eyelets, I was whacking so hard that I would flatten the front of the eyelet! LOL (OOPS!)

Thanks everyone!

So I shall persevere with the little sods since I do quite like the effect on the page I have done with them so far. I will have to find a firmer work surface to do it on though and the floors in our house are out, they would probably collapse (they're old and knackered).

Thursday I am going round a friends house and she has promised I can bang away to my hearts content

I did find that the rounded end of the hammer was better for squishing the back of the eyelets though, so I had a partial success. :-)

Yes, the rounded end does better on the backs. I use the flat end to bash away holes with the setter tool to kind of bend back the back side. Then I use the round end to finish up the back.