Turning a Pokémon Drawing into a Big Tufted Rug

Finally doing what I set out to do: turning my sketchbook drawings into custom tufted rugs. So please watch and enjoy as I turn this Poke'mon drawing into a rug. This tufted rug took a long time to make, but I had a lot of fun with the tufting gun. The rug depicts Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar overlooking Lavender Town.
As always, I start by laying out my tufting cloth on a smooth, flat surface. From there I measure the width and length that is required to fit my large tufting frame. Then, I bring up my selected image onto a laptop that is connected via HDMI to a projector. Once the projected image is aligned appropriately on the frame, I begin tracing the design with permanant markers. Once I'm satisfied with how the design looks, I will gather the yarn that I've already skeined. From there I thread two strands of yarn (one from each skein) through the eyelets that are attached to the tufting frame, and into my tufting gun. Then it is time to start tufting! I always like to start with the outline, and from that point, its just a matter of finishing one color at a time, making sure to keep the lines close together, until all the tufting is complete.
After the tufting is completed, and I've made sure all loose threads have been pulled out or snipped off, it's time to glue the back. As shown in the video, I use a generous amount of Roberts Carpet Adhesive. Dollop after dollop until every fiber of yarn is completely saturated. Then I like to take a slick, wet hand and really lather the glue in. I feel this helps to further make sure there's adequate glue coverage. And now we wait a day or two.
After the glue has had ample time to dry, we begin to remove the tufting cloth from the tufting frame and start the latter half of the rug making process.
With the rug laid glue side up on a flat surface, I will trim off the excess cloth. I like to leave about a three inch border of tufting cloth, so that it can be folded over and hot glued down to the back side. I then use scissors to cut the cloth into chunks that are about 4 to 5 inches wide. I then use a hot glue gun and apply an ample amount of glue to each chunk. Then carefully and safely, I fold the piece over, pulling with a slight amount of force. This is done so that the edge of the rug will roll over slightly and give a more visually pleasing edge. Once all the pieces of cloth have been glued down, and I am happy with the outcome, we need to cut a piece of backing material.
The backing material is laid out the same way as the tufting cloth was at the very start. I place the nearly finished rug onto the backing material and trim around it loosely with scissors. Then its just a matter of peeling up one half at a time, soaking both the back of the rug and backing material with spray adhesive, and firmly pressing the two parts together.
After giving the rug a few minutes to dry, I once again grab the scissors and trim off all the excess, overhanging backing material. From this point all that needs to be done is a final rug shearing. I have a jig that very much comes in handy. The jig locks the rug shears into place to ensure an even height throughout the rug. I start to shear row after row of the rug. Much like cutting the lawn. Taking it slower when resistance is felt. Once the rug is at a uniform height all that's left to do is hone in some of the lines. This can be done with scissors or the shears.
And after a whole lot of vacuuming, and a few more passes with the shears... And more vacuuming, and more shearing... The rug is finally finished! So I hope you've learned something and enjoyed this video and in-depth breakdown of all that goes into making a DIY rug.
Sidenote:
I've always enjoyed the visual arts so when I saw rug tufting for the first time, I knew I had to try it. From here on, I plan to continue making art showcase and tutorial videos of all things rug tufting. Hoping to continue getting better, and more goofy with it. If that's something you're interested in, feel free to subscribe!
-Michael