folds

Blindfolds – Here are the wool blindfolds that I am taking today to the Orange Coast Classic ATHA Guild Holiday Party … which also is a Rug Rave for Rug Aid site.  Volunteers who would like to be a part of the international effort taking place today, to call attention to the efforts of Heather Ritchie and her work with blind fiber artists in Gambia, can hook blind at all Rug Rave sites.  We will have two “blind” stations for those who want to experience what it would be like to be a sightless rug hooker.  And, if participants want to make a donation to Rug Aid, I will let them keep their blind fold.

Blocking – in answer to several requests from readers:

I always block my rugs on our dining room table.  We happen to have a set of those heat proof pads – the kind with a layer of metal in the middle.   Since our table extends to 120″ and I have never exceeded an 8′ foot rug, I always have enough room to spread out my rug.  (I do cover the pad with a plastic table cloth.)   If I had something wider than my table, I would put together enough stainless steel tables in my studio to do the job.  The rug is placed on the table, back side up.

For Big Momma, I soaked a cream colored twin sheet in water, partially wringing it out, but leaving it fairly wet.  I prefer something big as my steam cloth so I do not have to keep making trips back and forth to the sink.  The sheet was placed over the rug and the I started pressing, from the middle out, with a hot iron.  (Straight up and straight down – no moving back and forth.)   I repeated this twice to make sure I got plenty of water steamed into the rug.  After 2 steams, I went over the edges of the rug, pulling and stretching a bit in any places that needed to be stretched into shape.   Using a wet tea towel, I did a final press on those special spots to reinforce my tweaking.

I usually steam at night, right before I go to bed, so the rug can lay all night undisturbed.  In this instance, the rug was not completely dry the next morning, so it had to set until lunch time before it was completely dry.