How To Create A Pet Portrait Rug?

3. Determine the number and the shades of the colors from the photo

When you are working with a material like yarn it is relatively hard to mix different tones, and shades of the colors and achieve smooth translations. That’s why it is necessary to determine the tones and shades of the colors and just work with them throughout the process. Depending on the size of the portrait you would like to achieve the number of the recommended colors can be different however, for a small size rug (30cm x 30cm or 12’ x 12’) it is not recommended to work with more than 6-7 different colors of yarns. Using a lot of different colors of yarn with small details can be extremely difficult and challenging 

In the case of large-size pieces, the number of colors can be adjusted accordingly. If you are not a beginner tufter with enough tufting experience you can estimate this quite easily.

4. Gather all the necessary yarn

At this step, you have an image that is ready for tufting. After gathering all the necessary shades/types of yarn it would be possible to set up the frame and start creating the custom rug. For most of the tufters, this is the time when things get more interesting and exciting

If you are missing any of the yarns you require to create your custom carpet, you can check here to find the best available products.

5. Stretch the tufting cloth onto the tufting frame.

Like all the other times, tufting starts with stretching the cloth onto your tufting frame. In this step make sure that your cloth is tensioned enough and not loose. Try to align horizontal and perpendicular lines of the cloth with your frame’s directions, if you are using primary tufting cloth, the orange lines can be used as a reference to adjust the direction of it.  

If you need this step, you can check here for a detailed explanation. 

6. Transfer the picture to your tufting cloth

Once the frame and cloth are ready, it is time to transfer your design onto the cloth. You can use a variety of different methods. The most common and easy one is projecting the view from your screen to the cloth with a projector. However, even if you do not have a projector it is still possible to do it easily.

You can check here to see different methods for it and check if you need a projector or not.

7. Start tufting the rug

Finally, it is time to tuft. There can be different opinions about how to start and continue in the tufting process. I personally prefer creating the smaller parts with denser details color by color in order not change the yarn in the tufting gun frequently. After each color, trimming and cleaning around the parts you created can help to create a rug with a cleaner look. 

After finishing with smaller parts with different colors, it is time to tuft the biggest area. Until this step, it may not be so easy to imagine the final version of the rug and it can look a bit naked. But you just need to believe in the process and follow it till the last step. 

8. Finish the backing process

When the tufting of the rug is finished, we need to do the backing for it. After applying glue to the backside of it there are different possibilities to follow. You can see these options here and decide which one fits your design best. 

9. Trim and clean the rug

Cleaning the yarn pieces, especially in the areas where two colors of the yarn are meeting can change to look of the rug dramatically. Trimming the rugs can improve the quality and the look of it too but if you are doing a portrait of a pet who has fur you can try to trim it less than usual in order to have a similar look.