Group Rug
My local guild's Rug Project made a few public appearances recently. We are creating a knotted pile rug, using local wool, handspun by our members, naturally dyed, in a design which features local flora and fauna, representing our foothill environment.
We received a FiberHearts award from Interweave Press, and used the money for materials and a natural dye workshop with Karen Urbanek for this project.
In the photo below, Dee is weaving a new row. You can see the galvanized pipe loom we built for the project, and some of the tools. To the right of her is the pattern, and in her right hand is a small pair of clippers which we use as we knot.
We advanced the rug again:
In this photo, you can see a few more of our tools on the ground: the large pile scissors and the larger beater we use to pound in the knots.
It is so exciting to see the rug progress. We are nearly done with the body of the rug, and have the final border and hem left to weave. We are selling raffle tickets, and several of us are inventing ticket strategies to ensure our ticket is picked (mine was to make the ticket sticky, but I not *too sticky*, so it won't stick to other tickets! I haven't figured out what substance would be effective). One member even offered to buy *all* of the tickets (500) to increase her odds(!). We told her no. (Tickets can be purchased by absolute complete strangers: send me an email), and I'll send you the 411.
We expect the rug to be finished before August, and our county fair, where we will draw the winning ticket. There are many more photos at the guild website (click on Rug Project).
A few answers to comments: June and Sarah, the dyebook Deb and I are working on now is a set of completely different colors from the first book. We expect to do a third also, so as not to leave any colors bereft. We will probably repeat the first (Basic) book, but it will be a few years. Each book is taking us about two years to dye and collate.
We received a FiberHearts award from Interweave Press, and used the money for materials and a natural dye workshop with Karen Urbanek for this project.
In the photo below, Dee is weaving a new row. You can see the galvanized pipe loom we built for the project, and some of the tools. To the right of her is the pattern, and in her right hand is a small pair of clippers which we use as we knot.
We advanced the rug again:
In this photo, you can see a few more of our tools on the ground: the large pile scissors and the larger beater we use to pound in the knots.
It is so exciting to see the rug progress. We are nearly done with the body of the rug, and have the final border and hem left to weave. We are selling raffle tickets, and several of us are inventing ticket strategies to ensure our ticket is picked (mine was to make the ticket sticky, but I not *too sticky*, so it won't stick to other tickets! I haven't figured out what substance would be effective). One member even offered to buy *all* of the tickets (500) to increase her odds(!). We told her no. (Tickets can be purchased by absolute complete strangers: send me an email), and I'll send you the 411.
We expect the rug to be finished before August, and our county fair, where we will draw the winning ticket. There are many more photos at the guild website (click on Rug Project).
A few answers to comments: June and Sarah, the dyebook Deb and I are working on now is a set of completely different colors from the first book. We expect to do a third also, so as not to leave any colors bereft. We will probably repeat the first (Basic) book, but it will be a few years. Each book is taking us about two years to dye and collate.
posted by Sara at 8:02 AM
1 Comments:
How *is* Karen Urbanek? I haven't seen her in years. Wish I could make it up to your fair this summer, but am already spread too thin. Yours is one of my favorite county fairs.
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