Gene’s Rug Hooking Blog

Although I love the regular hooked rugs that Marny Cardin makes, it is her miniature hooked rugs for which she is probably best known.  Her passion for this art form has grown into a business that allows her to pass on both her expertise and love of all things miniature. Her web site, www.marnycardin.com, has some of the kits needed to make the rugs featured in today’s post, as well as many other kits not shown.  And, for those of you wondering how she has been able to collect so many of the beautiful full sized rugs previously shown over the past few days, along with careful budgeting, the proceeds from her kits often get put into her next new rug!

Marny uses French Knots to make miniature rugs that replicate the look of traditional hooked rugs.  This version of Art Nouveau  Cats is my favorite example of her work.  The art world probably would agree as it was chosen to appear on the back cover of Threads magazine.  Notice the detail in the purple flower (upper right hand side) that has the black triangle in the middle surrounded by the white dots.  It’s about the size of a button.

While her miniature rugs are quite capable of standing alone, many of them have been created as accent pieces for the miniature rooms she enjoys assembling.  Here is a shot of the “room” where Tumbling Cats lives.  Another “hooked” rug lies next to it, while two others hang on the wall.

Although I did my best to get a good shot of her fabulous miniature home, this photograph is no where near as good as the real thing. The attention to detail in each room is superb … everything set off, of course, with wonderful miniature hooked rugs.

I took this rug out of its location in order to get a “square” shot.  Again, it’s all done with French Knots and embroidery floss.

It takes on a totally different look when shown in situ.

While most of her rugs are more impressive in design and scope than this little chair seat, I particularly love this shot because it shows the utter craftsmanship that goes into everything she puts in her rooms.  The seat is hardly bigger than a postage stamp, as evidenced by the perspective created by the little hank of floss sticking into the frame.  However, every aspect of the chair seat is perfectly  in scale.  Of course, it would have to meet that expectation due to the quality of everything else in this scene: the chair detail, roping, baseboard and, of course, the basket.  As an internationally recognized maker of miniature rugs for the past 20 years, who often participates in juried shows and exhibitions around the country, she is well acquainted with the best artists in this field.

Reproducing Grenfell rug designs has been a recent interest of hers.  An article about Grenfell rugs and the miniatures Marny makes based on these designs, will be featured in Miniature Collector sometime this summer.  (Several other themed groupings like this one are available on her site.)

This close up really shows the nubby quality of the French Knots.  This section of the rug is about 1 by 1 3/4 of an inch.  Marny’s pieces average 500 knots per square inch.

Take special note of the detail in each paisley.

While most of her miniatures were inspired by full sized rugs, this miniature …

… inspired this full sized rug.

I hope you will drop by www.marnycardin.com and see many of the other little masterpieces that Marny makes.  Tomorrow’s post will be the last one on her collection of hooked rugs.