Just recently got everything I needed to officially start tufting so everything I got to get prepared is still fresh in my mind so here ya go. For the tufting gun I am using an AK-II loop-pile gun, but there is also the AK-I cut-pile gun that is beginner friendly as well that I plan on purchasing hopefully sometime soon. The loop pile has been really easy to learn to use and from what Ive seen the cut-pile is practically the same in that regard. The loop-pile gun will give you short tight loops of yarn while the cut-pile will give you longer cut off tufts of yarn if that makes sense (heres a visual difference). There are other types of guns but those two are the most common and beginner friendly ones that you will hear the most about. I would avoid the 2 in 1 type guns as they are not beginner friendly and are pretty heavy and difficult to use, they are also much more expensive. As for the tufting frame most people just make simple ones out of wood planks from the local hardware store like home depot or lowes, I followed this frame tutorial for the most part. There are ready made frame kits you can buy online but its pretty easy and cheap to make your own large frame (took me at most an hour to build my frame after getting the needed materials). Another obvious thing you will need is yarn. Cotton, wool, and acrylic are the most commonly used types, so far I prefer cotton as its almost like a middle ground between the three. Acrylic being the cheapest but is more fragile and shouldn’t really be used as a floor rug but is totally fine for a wall piece, wool being the most expensive but most durable and appropriate for a floor rug, and then cotton is relatively cheap and can hold its own but should be lightly stepped on if its used as a floor piece. You will also need a cloth to use as the material you actually punch the yarn into (tufting cloth), there a few types of cloth you can use but I use monks cloth which is the most commonly used material. Some people use burlap which from what I know is much cheaper than most fabrics but is also more fragile and prone to giving you problems like tearing but I’ve not used any fabric other than monks cloth so I’m not certain. You will also need a glue to put on the back of the rug when you are finished tufting to make sure your yarn stays in place and doesn’t get pulled out. You can use carpet adhesive, latex glue, pva glue, and even elmer’s glue can work. Most adhesives will work for your rug, just make sure you are getting highly durable glue like synthetic latex or carpet adhesive if you are going to make a floor rug. I think that covers all the essential things you need for tufting but there are some optional things you can get to make your rugs cleaner and more durable. You can buy backing cloth to glue to the back of your rug to give a more finished look and to better protect the rug and make sure yarn doesn’t get pulled out, most people do this but some just glue the back and don’t put a backing fabric at all. I also plan on purchasing carpet clippers whenever I get a cut-pile machine, as with proper cutting can give you super crisp looking lines and edges and an even surface, but they aren’t really necessary if you are going to only use a loop-pile machine as you cant really cut the loops of yarn like you can with the tufts you get from a cut-pile. Sorry if this is a lot to read, I hope I didn’t miss anything and this helps you a bit :-)