“Blocks” to use for dots, dashes, and spacers.

75 Spacers Completed–Hardware Cloth, Roofing Felt, Cotton Twine, and Pennies from the 90s
To Complete–61 Dots and 44 Dashes.
“Blocks” to use for dots, dashes, and spacers.

75 Spacers Completed–Hardware Cloth, Roofing Felt, Cotton Twine, and Pennies from the 90s
To Complete–61 Dots and 44 Dashes.
I am in the process of cutting, punching, and assembling components for a piece that will be a continuation of my Make Your Own Luck series.
Often I work directly on hardware cloth, but for this piece I decided to make separate components to be assembled rather like quilt blocks.
I cut 180 pieces of 1/2″ hardware cloth. Each piece is 3 squares by 3 squares, and will be bound between a layer of tree wrap and roofing felt.

There will be three components to represent dots, dashes, or spacers in the coded message–See a penny, pick it up, all the day have good luck. Each dot and dash component will have a piece of mirror, and each spacer will have a penny bound to it. Haven’t decided on the needlework for the components.

Since I will be making over 2,000 holes I tried different hole punches to find which works best for the job. I used the Martha Stewart Screw Punch, the hole punch my husband used when he was a paperboy, and the punch I used for palm bark.

Each punch worked great considering the material. I found that the screw punch worked best when punching holes in more than one layer. I was able to use the screw punch with either hand, so when my dominant hand became weary I switched to my helper hand.
Since the materials are a tad sticky I frequently cleaned the punch bit with a needle tool.
Make sure when using any sharp tool that you keep clear of anything that might bleed.
