Gene’s Rug Hooking Blog

I am sorry to have abruptly stopped posting over the weekend,  but not having that pressure did help me recover from whatever was afflicting me.  The free time was either used resting or doing things that just had to be done.  While I am not totally over whatever got me down, I am much better.  Although no one is making me  blog every day, it has sort of been a personal challenge to see how long I could find something relevant to say about Rug Hooking on a daily basis.  After posting almost every day for well over 2 years, I feel as though that challenge has been met.   Although I did not get sick with the purpose of having a talking point on this topic, I have been thinking about going to a Monday – Friday format for some time and will probably do so by the Christmas holiday.  It would be, personally, refreshing to have a slightly lighter blog schedule.  That said, there are other things up in the air concerning my writing, teaching and videography activities, for which extra time would be essential.  I will keep you posted.

First Saturday at the Harbor House

As I was scheduled to teach at the Anaheim First Saturday at the Harbor House, that was one of those things that just had to be done.  It was a great group totaling 15 students with about 19 projects!  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a shot of every project being worked on. However, I do have enough to give you a good sampling in today and tomorrow’s post.

Everyone agreed that this rug has a lot of personality.

This artist started this piece at Cambria in a class with Elizabeth Black.  Even though she had to work with a very limited color palate, she managed to get a lot of definition in this little Scottie.

A little project which will be all done in plenty of time for Christmas.

At last month’s 1st Saturday, this artist picked the mixed brown wools being used for the border out of my store supply.  As she was attracted to those odd colors/can’t be repeated pieces, it was imperative that she get enough to finish off the rug.    While it looked as though that wool would be a perfect choice, one can’t really tell until enough goes in for a good look.  We were both happy with the result.  I’ll show a few more photos tomorrow.

One thing I won’t show you is anything to do with the transitional dye demonstration that I did as a part of the class.   Talk about your dye class from hell!  The day was a reminder as to why I only use a commercial 6 burner stove when I dye wool.  While I can plug in a hot plate … they do not get hot enough, fast enough, to suit me.  Neither does a single burner hot plate support the 17″ by 20″ pan I use for this method … a fact we found out 3 times.  Yes, it does take a pan of boiling water spilling over three times for me to get the fact that you can not sustain the proper balance of an oversized pan of boiling water on a too small hot plate.  However, third time was the charm.  Still, it was oddly exhilarating to brave an environment where showers of boiling water were erupting at sporadic intervals.  Rather like I imagine a dye class at Yellowstone National Park might be.

I only show this photo of the finished product (taken later, in the safety of my studio) to prove that we did, nevertheless, end up with beautiful wool.  If you are one of the people contemplating whether or not to sign up for my dye class this August, at Sauder Village, please know that I have been promised commercial stoves with 12 burners.