For Cathy, Variation in Hooked rug color

Beginning rug hookers will find this difficult to follow, as they will not have as wide a range of wools to choose from as someone who has years of wool collected, but I never hook any significant area as one solid color.

Nor do I outline a large motif in one single wool choice, see the whale's tail on the rug I am working here. several different colored strands have been used to make this outline. The blue of the sea has uncounted blues and blue greens and orchids  Left over strands from countless rugs over 36 years of rug hooking make a rich palette for the present.  In this way, each rug you make contributes to the ones that will follow it. Over time, you will come to have the perfect yellow for a flower's center or a bird's eye.  As I work on this whaling rug, I am cutting fresh blues and browns right along, but I am also drawing strands from a stash of already cut wool left from other projects.

A little about my color use... I stay away from pure white entirely. Other than the eye of a figure like this whale, I stay away from pure black.  If you want an antique look to a rug, the nearer you stay to medium values, the older the rug will seem. This is because very dark colors would have faded with time, and very light colors would have darkened with soiling so it all goes closer to a soft  mid range of value.

My variation of color is not at all hit and miss. It is intentional thoughtful placement one strand at a time. For instance, the dark whale has mostly light blues around him.  He is the center of interest and I want him to be seen. As I work I am thinking about contrasts and compliments.  In the sea itself with so many slightly different blues, I can avoid placing the darkest next to the lightest, where I do not want a hard line for some reason.  Mostly I work from medium to light then back to medium and then to darker blues.  Here are examples of variation as I enjoy it.  The small ship was lost in our house fire. I wonder if I will ever work it again? It was done with a fine cut and much pulling out and putting in again.   E 

Note, I will cover several subjects to help a friend I am coaching from a distance. If a beginning rug hooker prints this "For Cathy" series, it will make a folder of these topics.

Jan Conwell's pretty little doll

 

This newest addition to my doll family is thinking about a dress of the old double pink fabric.  It is easy to see why it was used so much for a child's dress in the 19th century. It really set a little girl off,  and even the scraps brightened many a quilt top.  e

 

 

For Cathy, Hooked Rug Binding

Just as it is oversimplification to say that weaving is just putting a shuttle over one thread and under the next, so it is oversimplification to feel that hooking a rug is only a matter of hooking a loop repeatedly.
  There are so many topics about the craft that we have not touched on yet. 

I know that you will be binding your first small project soon.  First and foremost we hem the edges of a rug so that the backing cannot ravel away and take our rug with it! 

The reason for applying a binding to the edge is not only for esthetic reasons, but to protect this edge from wear. On a floor rug the first place to show wear is almost always the outer edge. By binding this vulnerable spot, we protect the linen backing from wear, as when the applied binding needs to be replaced it can be.  On a tiny piece that will have little or no wear, a simple unbound hem is excusable.  A prettier solution is that shown on the half round here, backing with a single piece of wool the full size of the project.

 Old fashioned rug binding tape, sturdy twill sold for this purpose is another solution. The larger floor rug in these pictures is bound in twill tape, heavy and 1 1/4 inches wide. It should be dabbed out in hot water before use, so it will not later shrink if wet.    See how the tape has been stitched to make a wider piece, making a casing on the top back of the rug, it was hung on a wall this way for a while.  A casing with a rod or a stick is always a good way to hang a rug.  Never use tacks in the body of a rug!  A dozen reasons no. 

The binding I use most often is a strip of pretty wool plaid coordinated with the rug itself.  This is torn on the straight of the wool fabric, 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. It is shown gathered at the corners of one mat, and mitered at the corners of the little doll sized chicken rug.

What ever binding you use, remember to cover the edge of the linen backing well.      Happy hooking!  e

For Every thing there is a season

Turn, turn, turn, I see over and over how my art interests circle back and pick up again, each time enlivened or made fuller by experience gained since the last time I worked in a given medium.  It seems to me that each thing I learn benefits everything else I do in some way. The study of color and contrasts and complements and design apply to portraits or samplers or quilts or gardening, all though my life.  From talking to friends I know that many of you find the same in your endeavors.
   I have been enjoying rug hooking a little  lately, that is enjoying a lot and hooking a little.  My hands do not tolerate very long sessions, but I like looking at what is happening on a project each time I pass by it through out my day.
  In my rug hooking basket there is a little duplicate of the doll size chicken rug I left in Rockport for one of my hostesses there.  My own dolls felt greatly slighted not to have one here too.  And under it is a great runner, copy of an antique one which Barb Carroll prints. I started this one years back and gave up on it. Now I am accepting the fact that I cannot do much at a time, but that little can add up!  Wish me courage on this one,

it is big!  If I can complete it I will use it as a table rug on our 8 ft table or over a window in the dining area.  I love nautical things.  E

Revolutionary rifles on view

Today I parted with Jackie’s Bunker Hill rifle.  It was hard to take it from the  wall of the room that was his, remembering how much pleasure he had in that amazing discovery years ago in a big northern antique market. But it has gone now to the care of a serious collector of Revolutionary guns with proven history of ownership. On this gun, the patch box contained the names of the owner and the maker of this worn and humble relic.  See Jack’s post on it at  http://www.edythoneill.blogspot.com/2012/07/american-revolutionary-war-gun-bunker.html     

 

It is good to have the old rifle in the hands of a collector who will document it’s history as he goes even to the town in Maine where the revolutionary owner lived.  The gun is identified, kept safe and will be restored by one of the most outstanding craftsmen in this field.  I wanted to be sure it did not get lost from its identity and wind up in a yard sale or dump. 

 

In addition, Al, the purchaser, brought a silver mounted long gun which belonged to John Glen Jr, a  close friend of GW who had fought right beside him many times, and no doubt GW handled this beautiful weapon. Several friends and family members were here to see this remarkable revolutionary gun.   This was a day unlike any other for me. 

 

Included in the transaction was another gun of similar age but lacking provenance.    This can hang on the wall where I am accustomed to having one.  e                                                                                       

Doll clothes

My friend Elizabeth used to say change a doll's clothes and it is as if you have a new doll.  She was very right I think.  Here is a light brown quilted silk bonnet I found on RL, modeled by one of the two large Greiner heads I need to make bodies for.  It is always a trade off to put a bonnet on a doll, I like to see the hair too.

 

If you go to this link you will see my post on three more of these.

http://edythoneill.blogspot.com/2013/02/19th-century-quilted-baby-bonnets.html

The rough little blond Greiner with a sweet home made body is just right in the indigo dress I brought back from my trip. She is a simple doll needing a simple dress.  Now that is one more dressed.   e 

 

 

Fabric folk art doll

Good morning, Look what a great rag doll was in my email this morning from Skinner's. She is coming up at auction with an estimate of 4 to 6 thousand.  At 18 inches she is billed as a possible Izannah Walker doll which she clearly is not. My Izzanahs would love to have a dress that good!  Click the picture to see it larger, like all the rest on this blog. E