Eyelet setting problems....

[sweet maxine]

I've been trying to work with eyelets this afternoon, and I'm about ready to just give up. I can't believe it can be so hard to do this. I've never had any trouble setting grommets for purses, but this just doesn't seem to be going right.

I'm using a setter made by M'Bellish that I bought at Wal Mart, and it's the only one they carry here. There is a LSS an hour away, and I guess I could go over there tomorrow if I have to for something different to use. ]

First of all, I'm having to hammer WAY too much just to get the eyelet to even BEGIN setting! When it does start to set, the whole eyelet starts changing shape, so it's almost oval--not round. Just barely tapping with the hammer isn't doing it. I didn't think it would be so difficult to do, but now I'm not sure.

What am I doing wrong? Am I just using a bad product to try to set the eyelets with?

 

[piratesmate]

What brand of eyelets are you using? From what some of the ladies have said, it seems that Making Memories ones are a heavier gauge metal. I haven't heard of the M'Bellish setter. I'm using the MM one from their tool kit.

 

[sweet maxine]

Okay, I just had to go find the label from the package. They're the eyelets from Wal Mart with 500 in the pack--M'Bellish brand. I did think of one other thing--------I'm using a scrap mat to work on, so maybe that surface is not hard enough. The directions say to LIGHTLY TAP-----I don't think lightly tapping will do anything. These are not "soft" metal eyelets. It seems like the setter would work with the eyelets of the same brand name. One thing I did notice is that the shape of the setter does not seem to fit very well on top of the back of the eyelet.

Maybe I'm just having a bad day.....

 

[Mickey's old friend]

I use making memories eyelets all the time and they work great. I like to use the
mm universal setter because it 'splits' the back of the eyelets evenly on the back.
I use a sizzix white plastic replacement cutting board and hit with 2-3 semi-hard taps. Are you cutting a hole first, then placing in the eyelet? Could you possibly
be using too thick of papers? I don't think little taps would work on any of the traditional setters. I hope you can get your eyelets to work because I think you
will like them!

 

[sweet maxine]

I'm using the hole punch attachment that came with the setter to make the hole. I am trying to punch through a double layer of cardstock with mulberry paper on top. Is that too thick?

 

[Disneyland_emily]

One thing Id try (prob not on your layout- just in case) is head to a cement or other hard surface and without the mat- Try it with a small but good hit and see if that works- I never found the mats to help me so I just have a piece of board I use to hit away on-

As for the thickness- if ya have any of the eyelet poking out itll be just fine (I usually go through 2 pices of cardstock with no probs

So grab some scratch paper and donate some eyelets to "science" and figure out what works best for you -em

 

[Twigs]

I had been using a mat too when I first started to use the eyelets. Then I took a course in my LSS and they were using a very hard wood cutting board underneath the eyelets. I had a cut out piece from a kitchen counter top at home and started to use that with much better results, so I think you need a hard surface to work on. Try experimenting on different surfaces.

I have a hand held eyelet setter that my father used in his celler workshop. It works like a regular hole puncher and that works best of all for me, but only if the eyelets are close to the edge of the paper you are working on.