Gene’s Rug Hooking Blog

Super Box Sunday

Feb 8

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Hooking Events

It was a busy weekend, culminating with Super Box Sunday.

I did quite a bit of marbleized dyeing on Friday. This is the front and back of 3 pieces from one twist.

Off the bolt wool in deep red, mustard and teal was what I used for that grouping. I did several others, but these were my favorite.

The first Saturday of the month always finds me teaching all day at the Harbor House in Anaheim.

abird18

Even though we had a lot of rain, which is the CA equivalent of snow, 16 people braved the storms to hook.

Since I normally just throw it in the back of my pick up truck, it was quite a trick to get all of my wool there without getting it wet. Of course, I only had this much …

and 4 more tables …

and a bit more. However, everything made it in good shape.

There were some new rugs I had not seen.

Some that had advanced significantly since the last time I had seen them.

Even one that was completely done. After coming home, I even managed to set down a do a bit of hooking myself.

So, why is this post called Super Box Sunday?

Early Sunday morning, as I went out to the studio, I head the faint sound of high pitched chirping in the nest box. A quick look confirmed my suspicions – the parakeet eggs have started to hatch. As eggs are laid every other day, and hens often do not start setting on the eggs until 2 have been laid, that accounts for just two hatchlings. If all goes well, and every egg is good, we ought to have another chick every other day until these hatch. Forget the Super Bowl – I had a Super Box Sunday.

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Reporting In

Feb 5

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Double Cross

Two rugs recently came in that I thought you might enjoy seeing.

Della sent this version of the Double Cross pattern-

Hi Gene,

I am enjoying your rug camp and I wanted to do this pattern as a small rug for my wall in my bathroom. Also, I wanted to try your transitional dyeing method. My bathroom has some rust/red color in the tile and I’ve got a picture with some blue in it, so I thought modifying the double cross and have it be over all blue with some red in it. So I gathered my red and blues…first mistake…those 2 combinations make purple..lol My first lesson! I didn’t want to waste what I had dyed so I started my rug and it was very difficult not knowing exactly how I was going to hook this but, like you, I gave it a lot of thought and it eventually ‘came to me.’

I’m pleased with it so far and I think you will get the idea from my picture .

Della in cold….NS

Della – You are correct. Red and blue make purple! Even though your wool came out a bit different than what you expected, I do like your rug very much. In addition to the color combinations, you have done a neat, precise job with your hooking … I even counted your rows and you spaced things “just right.” GRS

It is important, especially when hooking a geometric, to hook each repeating grid exactly like you did the previous one, just as Della did. That keeps everything even, as well as, precise.

Neat and precise may be a theme today, as it is also evident in this rug from Grace -

Hi Gene – Just wanted to let you know that I finally did finish my first rug! We talked some time back when I purchased a bent hook. The pattern came from RHM, Nov/Dec 1996, and is called Grandma’s Spiral. I did it in light colors to pass down to my granddaughters. The bent hook is my favorite hook. I had a wonderful teacher, Pat Gaufillet (from Ocala, FL) and she helped me color-plan, and was most patient as I struggled with those scrolls!! I’m sure I would never win any contests but as far as I’m concerned I am thrilled with my first rug and just wanted to thank you for your encouragement!!

Love your website! - Grace Borntraeger

Grace – I think you have found your art form if this is just your first rug. It looks really good. While I would like to take some credit, because of the bent hook, you should be quite proud of your accomplishment. The only problem I see with it is that you made it to pass down to your granddaughters … I am afraid you are going to need to make another one.

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Working On Double Cross

Feb 4

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Double Cross

Since I have been working on my version of the classic rug pattern, Double Cross, I thought you might like to see my progress to date.

Although I used new transitional wool to outline the basic design …

… my fill is being done with a variety of tweed scraps.

One has to get close to the rug to actually see the variety of tweeds being used. Since they are being mixed together a great deal, from a distance, everything is blended by the eye to produce an interesting background. Of course, I am clustering some of the lighter colors right down the middle to create a bold stripe. It has the look, in my mind, of a striped warp that might be used for a weaving project. Although I started out with the intention of having all of the blocks of this shape done very dark, changing it to this dash of color seems to give it much more life. I am enjoying the rich colors of this piece and just wish I had more time to hook.

Today on the Internet Rug Camp:

-Discussion about ways to tweak the DC pattern.

-Using the Alternate Loop/Bead Technique

-Ways to get more out of the site.

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Storing Rugs and Other Things

Feb 3

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Organization

If you know anyone who has had trouble subscribing to the Internet Rug Camp, it was probably due to the fact that their registration process stopped for one reason or another. Since the program protects itself by blocking any failed attempt, I have gone in and removed anyone with that problem. This should clear the path so that re-registration can take place. Please help me pass on that information. Additionally, I can do a manual registration for people that just don’t want to use Pay Pal. Contact me if you have questions.

Storing Rugs -

My rugs are made to be used, however, I do not use them until I am done carting them around to classes and rug shows. (It is too much trouble to get the white dog hair off if it has been on the floor.) Correspondingly, I want the rugs kept in a good, out of the way spot that is easily accessible. Therefore my “show & tell rugs” are all stored in one place.

My Grandfather made this simple pine chest for my Mother’s quilts, shortly after she was married. While it was originally covered with fabric, I took that off when I moved it in the studio. It got a black coat of paint, a bit of sanding to distress it, a covering of protective lacquer and some heavy duty wheels to replace the ineffective ones that had been on it since WW II. More importantly, a cedar lining was added to the bottom of the chest.

It is the only old thing I use for storage in the studio. Even so, it is highly functional and I doubt I could get anything to replace it that tucks away under the book shelf, rolls around, easily opens, comes cedar lined, doubles as a hooked runner display area and acts like an extra shelf, when closed. Of course, I also like it because of its history. While I do like my metal units and other user-friendly storage items … this piece brings a different sort of comfort level to the room.

Tags: Gene Shepherd, rug hooking

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More About Organization

Feb 2

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Organization

Buying restaurant grade stainless steel tables for my studio was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Originally, I was going to set up my workspace with either Formica-type or plastic folding tables. I could get either for about $50 each. However, as I contemplated all the damaged, stained and abused folding tables at my church, it suddenly dawned on me that tables in a dye area would encounter even more stains and more heat than anything that had been dished out at church. (Not withstanding the time I blocked a rug on a Formica-type church table … and learned that was not a good thing to do.) While it cost me a little more than double the price to get a stainless steel table, I have never regretted that expenditure. Since I sling dye like a short order cook at a soup kitchen, easy clean up is a big deal at my place! Then, there is the heat … from dye kettles, pots and teakettles. I would have destroyed 2 or 3 regular tables by now, no doubt. Then, there is the matter or work height. Stainless steel tables are taller (a full 6 inches) and, therefore, easier to work at than the shorter folding variety.

Restaurant grade tables also come with an adjustable lower shelf that stabilizes the unit. This came in very handy when I decided, much later, to set in more an additional shelving drawer unit. All I had to do was decide on the unit I wanted, and then readjust my bottom shelf so there was just enough room to slide in the new unit. (Also, by lowering the metal shelf this much, there is still plenty of room to sweep dirt under the tables and yet, it not be seen … a very liberating feature of this design.)

These Elfa drawer units hold my dyes and related equipment. Each one has 3 deep sliding drawers and one shallow drawer. The Elfa system is great because you pick from their standard components, to make the unit that best suits your needs.

To make sure each drawer was perfect for that dedicated use, I actually took a jar of dye (Pro Chem) with me to The Container Store. Additionally, I only order dye in jars that are the same size so everything will easily be accessible. Perhaps it was the fact that I frequently worked, for a time, with a teacher that keep a big tub of dyes in her car – all were in different sized jars. It was always a chore to find the dye she was looking for. Mine go in by number and they can’t jostle around.

One of the top, shallow drawers holds my Cushing Dye, although I do not use very much of that any more. The other drawer holds the dye books and recipes that I use the most.

Since my studio has to be a multi-purpose space, this table is adjusted for my tool cabinet, minus wheels.

While it did cost a little more to use these products the end result has greatly simplified my life and allowed me to speed up the process by which I get my work done.

Tags: dyeing wool, Gene Shepherd, rug hooking

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Organized

Feb 1

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Organization

On Friday I went on record as saying that my studio would be cleaned out and re-arranged by this morning … and it is.

It may not look like too much, but switching things around so all the furniture and shelving hug the walls really makes my free space much bigger. With the extra shelves, I was able to consolidate my contents so “like” things cluster together – no going back and forth for items stored in different spots on each side of the space. Now, the trick is to keep it that way. Although I am not showing too much today, I will be commenting on different sections of the studio throughout the week and some storage solutions that I have found to be particularly helpful.

As it turned out, organization seemed to be the theme of my weekend. Last Friday evening, while in the midst of my studio re-do, I attended a dinner party at the home of a blog member, Penny White. We eventually ended up in her craft room looking at her storage solutions. While she does not have quite as much stuff to store as I do, she has come up with a good way to organize her stash and keep her stuff right at her fingertips. Although I did not have my camera with me, she did offer to take a few shots and send them via email.

This is my idea of a well organized cart of rug hooking essentials. It has room for her project, the wool she needs at that section, her cutter on a solid board and all other important supplies. (I did not pay her for an endorsement.) It can easily be rolled out when she is ready to hook.

It can also just be rolled back into the storage area when she is not using it. Notice the bins of wool directly above.

Finally, over the weekend I heard about the 90^th birthday celebration of rug hooker and blog reader, Bernice Jiles. I met Bernice and her daughter Mynette Whittington a few years ago when I was teaching in Arkansas. For her project at that camp, Bernice decided on my Serene Selen, a 3 by 5 foot, complicated, geometric rug that is a companion piece to Miss Weigle. When her daughters were planning the 90th birthday celebration, they commissioned an artist to design a “story” poster about their mother that could also be used as an invitation.

I was quite pleased to see Bernice, hard at work on Serene Selen, hooking away in this drawing. Since the poster is also going to be turned into a rug pattern for her to work on, looks like she is going to hook SS again – or at least part of it. May we all be hooking away at age 90 and, like her, making plans to attend her next hook in (Rock Creek Hook In) in the very near future.

Today on the Internet Rug Camp:

New video: Marbleized Wool

Looking at Gene’s Double Cross Rug

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Replicating Nature

Jan 29

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Ordered Pancake Dye

To those of you who are still enduring a frigid winter, I apologize for this photo –

In Anaheim, we still aren’t quite done with Fall yet, as evidence by these leaves I picked up on the way to the studio yesterday evening. They came from two trees in my side yard that still have a lot of leaves. Although the leaves are finally starting to fall fast and furious, it looks more like October in my yard, than late January. The biggest leaf is particularly striking. Notice the dots of red – if we hooked a leaf like that I suppose everyone would just assume that we used artistic license for the color scheme. It would be easy, however, to replicate this leaf with a pancake dye application. While I did not have time to mix up any dye last night to come up with an illustration, here is a piece of wool dyed by that technique.

When I dyed this wool, the soaked piece of wool was laid flat in a pat. Different colors of dye were mixed up, then spooned on to get the look I wanted. If dyeing the spotted leaf shown above, my dye colors would have been yellow, gold, brown and a red. On a piece of wool 4 times longer than the leaf, I would have replicated the sections with my dye: brown edge, gold area with red dots, bleeding to mostly gold > yellow, with brown on the edge. (This technique is described in the category section.) Of course, once everything was done, the wool would have to be hooked in sequence to keep the color fields together.

Although this is not supposed to be the leaf … or a hooked example of the wool shown above, you can see how the wool colors on another piece of pancake dye stayed together when the wool strips were hooked sequentially – in the order of how they were cut. It is a great technique that lets you paint your wool with dye.

I am spending all my free time this weekend finishing up the studio makeover … so I can show you the finished product on Monday.

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Cleaning House

Jan 28

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Studio

This week was probably not the best time for a studio overhaul. However, circumstances came together where they produced a situation that could either be viewed as providential timing or as the clutter was too high and something had to go. Although I work hard to keep things efficiently organized, I am always coming to the point where I need a bit more room. In particular, room for projects in progress and things needed to supply web store shoppers with what they need.

While hooking the other day on the Double Cross pattern, it suddenly dawned on me that I was not using everything I had in the studio to the best of its ability because of arrangement. There were out crops – things sticking out on both sides of the room, which ate up space and complicated traffic flow. To make matters worse, my desk area was placed against a perfectly good metal shelving unit, greatly reducing its value as a storage space. Long story short, I did a major move around, relocating several key elements.

This may not look like much to you, but by relocating that one metal-shelving unit from the other side of the studio to this side, and adding 3 more shelves, I have created a spot for 16 more storage tubs and boxes of books. (My tubs are those black, restaurant bus-boy tubs.) Now that the desk can go flush to the wall on the other side, I have gained a good additional 5 feet of floor space down the middle of the studio since there are no out-crops on either side. This made an immediate improvement as tubs of wool and projects have been stacked on each other in a very haphazard fashion all over the studio. While I can take a lot of mess when it piles up in the midst of a creative project, mess impedes my ability to start new projects. Now I can easily locate anything being stored. There are still a few folding tables protruding out from the shelving wall, but they have been relocated to the very opening of the garage, giving me much more working space on that side of the studio. A 4 drawer file cabinet was also removed from this spot to the other side so it sits directly across from the tables. Unlike their previous location further in on the side, they make no negative impact at all on floor space. This impulse move only confirms my original decision to go with adjustable metal shelving – they move easily, adjust easily and can be expanded with more shelves without much work or expense.

I would show you the other side, which is now minus the out-crop of desk and shelving unit on that side … but will wait until every thing in the middle is put away. At least, it now has a place to go … when I get the time to put it there. The overhaul has made a lot of improvement … but is not over yet!

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International Information

Jan 27

Posted by Gene Shepherd in TIGHR

This morning, as I make my way to the office, I will drop my 3-year registration for TIGHR in the mail. TIGHR (The International Guild of Handhooking Rugmakers) begins a new, 3-year cycle this month, that will eventually culminate in the next big conference in Australia, 2012 … and I want to be a part of it.

In case you don’t know what TIGHR is all about, here is their purpose statement:

The purpose of TIGHR shall be to promote international interaction among rughooking artists, to provide opportunities for exchange of ideas and information and to encourage exploration into tradition, culture, and history of rug making techniques. The policy is to share and enjoy, rather than judge each other’s work. Every three years a new Board will be elected and be responsible for continuity of the guild.

So far, TIGHR has traveled to England, Canada, the United States, Wales and now, on to Australia!

While you can get all of this information on the TIGHR website, what you may not know is some of the particulars about registration –

Since leadership from the host country keeps the books for the 3-year period leading up to the next conference, they like to receive registrations in their own currency. To make it easier for US fiber artists to join, Rose Kanusky, from San Antonio, Texas, has agreed to organize a group payment. US registrants will still need to fill out a TIGHR form, but send it to Rose, along with a check for the registration fee made out to Rose Kanusky, instead of sending a bank draft and their form to Australia. Once collected, Rose will forward all the money and registration forms on to the TIGHR Board in Australia. (If other national groups have a way to expedite registrations from their country, pleas let me know so I can pass on that information.)

Besides being a part of a great international group of fiber artists, the 3-Year membership also entitles the registrant to receive the TIGHR Newsletter. If you are willing to receive the newsletter via email, the cost for all 3 years is $60 US. If you want a hard copy, it is $80 US. If you want to be a part of TIGHR, please mail your form and check so that Rose receives it by February 4, 2010.

To make it easy for you to find and print the form, as well as Rose Kanusky’s address, a button has been added at the top of this page. It is called TIGHR . Remember, make the checks payable to Rose Kanusky so she can cash them for the group payment. If you have any questions about this process or the date, contact Rose at rkanusky@elstonpress.com You can also read more about TIGHR on their site at http://www.tighr.net/

Reasons why I am supporting TIGHR

1. I want to promote rug hooking in Australia

2. I want to promote rug hooking around the world

3. The Australian rug hookers I have met in person, or on the Internet, are enthusiastic fiber artists worthy of our support.

4. If I go to Australia, perhaps I can see wild flocks of parakeets!

4 Comments

Hooking Corners

Jan 26

Posted by Gene Shepherd in Corners

Since I am working on a version of the Double Cross pattern, it means I am spending a lot of time hooking corners.

Although there are different ways to hook a corner, I usually do this method:

1. As you hook the line leading up to the corner, hold the hook at a right angle to that line/ditch being hooked so that the loops will all lay the same direction.

2. While hooking the line, use whatever loop/skip sequence that is appropriate to the cut being used. However, for the last 4 holes leading up to the actual corner, do not skip any holes – this will cause the end of the row of loops to be crowded over. Make the last loop of that line in the corner hole, all the while maintaining a position so that the hook is at a right angle to that original line.

3. To turn the corner, change the position of the hook so that it points across the new line at a right angle. Skip the first hole of the new ditch, pulling up the first loop in the second hole. Hook 2 or 3 more holes in that ditch without skipping and holes. In effect, both side of the corner have been crowded so as to make a full, complete, corner.

If all of that seems a bit confusing, I do happen to have a free video about corners on You Tube. While it is not as complete a demonstration as what is on the Internet Rug Camp, it is a better way to study the method and you can get there with this link. To get there, Google You Tube … once there, enter Gene Shepherd. I have about 4 free videos there.

Today on the Internet Rug Camp

-More discussion on corners

- Using transition dyed wool

-A full look at my Double Cross project

- The new Corners and Colors: Double Cross video

Tags: Gene Shepherd, Geometrics, Internet Rug Camp, rug hooking

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Gene’s Rug Hooking Blog

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Super Box Sunday

Reporting In

Working On Double Cross

Storing Rugs and Other Things

More About Organization

Organized

Replicating Nature

Cleaning House

International Information

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