Recently the Yarra Valley Rugmakers Group showed an interesting video on their blog of a rugmaker, Meg Little, who lives on the USA Eastern Seaboard and creates rugs using an electric tufting machine. It’s great video – click the following link and take a look
Also mentioned is Bec Andersen, a member of the Australian Guild, who creates rugs using this ‘electric’ tufting technique, as they say “taking punch needle rug hooking to a different level”.
Bec hosts a rug hooking group who meet regularly at her studio in Mt. Tamborine, south of Brisbane in Queensland. She also gives workshops in traditional rug hooking and various rugmaking techniques and works in the community on textile projects. You can contact Bec by email at info@becandersen.com
Below is a video showing Bec using this tufting technique and creating the
“Wishing Chair”
The Wishing Chair was featured in the Australian Rugmakers Guild News and TIGHR’s Hooking Matters a few years ago. It’s amazing to see her breath new life into a dilapidated old chair left by the roadside for a rubbish pick-up.
The Sunshine Coast Rug Crafters raised over $700 in support of the
“Friends of the Beerwah Library” with their original triptych of “Under the Sea”.
The three pieces were won by people on Bribie Island, Glass House Mountains and Beerwah so the “word” is beginning to spread across the Sunshine Coast.
Over 25 people attended the brief talk and Q & A session offered by Judi Tompkins and the members of the Sunshine Coast Rug Crafters and there was a great interest in the craft with questions about “How do you do it?” and “How can I learn?” ……. as a result we have 10 new members who want to join the group which means the July sessions will be very busy. Report by Judi Tompkins
( Left) Setting up a display of the groups work at the Library.
(Below) Early days of the project – some of the groups members working on their “Undersea” pieces.
Note the use of small scale stretcher frames
Annette from NSW has relocated to QLD and joined the Sunshine Coast Rug Crafters – her Three Wise Men were on display at the Library. Shown here is a close-up of the hanging system she used for this piece.
The Sunshine Coast Rug Crafters groups meet the second Monday and third Tuesday of each month from 3-6pm at the Beerwah Library.
As a community group there is no fee to attend; afternoon tea is available.
In Western Australia on the weekend of 6th & 7th June there were rug hooking workshops with a difference.
Participants paid to attend morning or afternoon sessions in two locations, north and south of the city, and rather than signing up for a specific workshop, spent their time watching and taking part in the various on-going hands-on demonstrations.
Things were quiet as we set up – once the doors opened there was a buzz of activity as the participants moved from table to table and gathered close so as not to miss anything.
The techniques advertised were:-
Locker Hooking;
Robin Inkpen “in full flight” explaining this technique is quite different from traditional rug hooking.
This group of quilters were deep in thought about the possibility of putting their left-over quilting stash to use!
Locker hook and mesh
Locker hooking uses the same “canvas” backing as “latch hooking” however the tool is different. The hook, similar to a crochet hook with a needle eye at the opposite end, is used to thread a length of yarn or string through the long strips of torn cotton fabric hooked into the backing with loops at the front, rather than the short pieces of wool yarn used for latch hooking.
Below is a table mat made by Robin using sari silk off-cuts.
Shown below, is an excellent example of “Australian Locker Hooking” (the term given to pieces where fleece, instead of fabric, is used to hook up through the backing) discovered by Robin at the second workshop venue, Alexander Park Craft House in Menora.
Here Robin shows Kath the ends of the fleece on the back of this piece
Naalbinding or Toothbrush Rugmaking;
Judith Stephens with samples of all manner of bags, baskets and bowls she’s created from torn doona covers and sheets made with a tool modified from – yes…. a toothbrush!
The most popular items were the bags, some with a flap, made to hold iPads. These bags were created in “one piece” – absolutely no seams – no sewing required even the handles of the bags were worked into the same piece.
Some of the baskets had a built in base giving them stability to stand and more carrying capacity – also with no stitching required.
Quillies (standing wool rugs);
Kira Mead’s quillies have gone viral – everyone was anxious to have-a-go at this technique, new to all.
At the Craft Fair, after looking at Kira’s “Reef” wall-hanging, a visitor expressed an interest in the shaped sea creatures and signed up for the workshop hoping to ask Kira how to create a bird shape to represent her pet pink & gray galah. She was thrilled to find Kira had created a small kit in the shape of a bird and already had one made up in pink and gray (shown above on the table)
The construction of “Aurora” a large wall-hanging, is featured in an article by Kira in the current issue of Rug Hooking Magazine.
From over-size to ……..something small, this brooch is Kira’s most recent project.
Proggy and Traditional rug hooking;
All the participants were new to rugmaking – Anna’s brightly coloured proggy rug, (left – shown with the backside folded over) attracted much attention and a mini-stretcher frame was used by those who wished to try their hand at proggy, while a selection of locally made lap frames were used for the traditional rug hooking demonstrations.
The advertised “5 techniques” became “7”
with demonstrations of Stick weaving and the Chunky rugmaker.
Above Gay is working on a toothbrush rug mat as Nita sets up some stick weaving.
The length of firm fabric “cord” formed by stick weaving makes an excellent bag handle or it could be wound and glued or stitched to make a mat.
Nita and Gay also demonstrated the use of the Chunky rugmaker – used by Maggie Whyte (ACT) to create Fabric Necklaces and a different twist on typical mats.
Below, this happy trio participated in a recent workshop making Fabric Necklaces at Wanneroo
April Workshop at Wanneroo
Books & Magazines;
A selection of rug hooking books were available for participants to view and copies of Miriam Miller’s book “Proggy and Hooky Rugs” with it’s clear illustrations and “how-to” descriptions, were available for sale.
Copies of Rug Hooking Magazine were also available.
Following the workshops
Complimentary comments have been coming in from participants – here are just a couple –
Anne who attended in Mandurah emailed to say
“thanks to all the instructors for their help at the workshop on Saturday in Mandurah – Dawn and I thoroughly enjoyed our time – never knew there were so many ways to use all kinds of materials to craft and create.”
After Menora – Beth said –
“thank you so much for yesterday – it was a marvellous time. I loved it!”
members have been working together on the wall-hanging shown below, and displayed at this exhibition in the Wanneroo Museum.
Lest We Forget – Wanneroo Rugmakers Group 2015
590mm x 1240mm
Artist Statement:
This wall hanging was created with recycled fabrics and worked with traditional rug hooking techniques, in commemoration of the men from Wanneroo who joined the Armed Forces and went to war to secure our continued freedom.
It was hooked in a confusion of monotone stitches to symbolise the destruction and desolation of war; with the poppy representing the blood spilled on the battlefield and the rising sun illustrating the dawning day and the ushering in of new hope.
at Expertise Events Craft & Quilt Fair, Perth May 2015
it was lost in the City of Wanneroo on Saturday 7th March, 2015.
Robin Inkpen hooked this piece from ties collected by a family member over a period of 40 plus years and was bringing it along with several of her other large creations to a talk at the Wanneroo Library. When Robin arrived home and realized Ties that Bind was missing, calls were made and a search of the building was begun – to no avail.
Karen the Librarian authorized a “Lost” poster I’d made to be displayed in the library and suggested since there was such a human interest story related to this art work, the local newspaper be contacted and asked to publish an article about it in case someone found it in the street. Thanks to Lucy Jarvis this article was run the Wanneroo Community News the following week.
Someone must have found the piece of fibre art in the street because it was finally located across the road from the Library in the foyer of the City offices; a building which Robin did not go into as it was not open on the weekend. From there it was returned to the Library and is now waiting to be exhibited stored safely with me.
If only this piece of textile art could talk – what stories it could tell – from the original ties collected over so many years to its latest adventure in the city of Wanneroo.
Last week Robin from Donnybrook, brought an unfinished rug that had been given to her by a friend, for “show and tell” in Wanneroo.
There was a hand-written note in the bottom of the bag with a very rough sketch of the tool and a brief description of how it was used; I have re-done (shown above)
This rug was started back in the 1950’s by the friend’s grandmother. Included in the bag given to Robin was a “Rumplestiltskin” rugmaking tool (tufter). After looking at the unfinished rug it was obvious this tool had not been used because only rows of machine stitching showed on the back – the Rumplestiltskin would have poked the woolen yarn through the hessian backing.
It looked like “chenille” to me – a google search turned up many examples of chenille rugs, mostly on quilting websites, but these were strips of fabric stitched to the backing; I couldn’t find anything showing rows of looped yarn?
Rhonda, one of the senior members of our group, told me she remembers her mother using a similar tool in the 1930-40’s to make rugs like this and that there was a small blade clipped at one end of the metal strip and once the machine stitching had been done, it was used to sliced through the loops on the side away from the stitching.
We’re going to record this rug along with other rugs, finished or not, in a registry on this website and would appreciate images and information anyone can send us of Australian rugs.
Other news from the South-West is that interest in rug hooking is starting to spread – Robin said :-
“A rugmaker from nearby Boyup Brook called in to get a locker hooking kit a week ago – she came back yesterday to get another. She had finished the first one as a lovely table mat locker hooked showing a cow on a hill. It was going in the Boyup Brook Show as the theme this year was cattle. After that she plans to use it as a floor mat in the backseat of her car! The extra kit she collected was for a naval friend who did tapestry. He saw her doing locker hooking and wanted to have a go. I am intrigued to know how he gets on.”
Speaking of tools……….. in Queensland :
The Sunshine Coast Rugmakers Group is having a lovely time using the Fraser cutter given to their group by the Narrawilly Proggers. The group at Narrawilly received the cutter along with other rug making supplies when a rughooker from Sydney gifted her stash to them because she was giving up the craft due to ill health. At Narrawilly they already had 2 cutters, so forwarded the Fraser to the Queensland group.
Judi Tompkins the group leader said ……
“We had a great visit today with Kim, a Home Ec teacher from Gympie (150kn north of me) who found our rug group on the net through my website http://www.rugcraftingaustralia.com.au/ She brought with her Ellen her friend who was visiting from Philadelphia in the USA. Ellen is doing her McGown Rughooking Guild training and was blown away by our approach – casual, bright colours and few rules!”
New South Wales:
The Narrawilly Proggers from New South Wales recently entered rugs in the local Show. I’m sure you will see more about this event in the newsletter Miriam Miller will be emailing to Guild Members this April.
While in Victoria
the Yarra Valley Rug Hooking Group has just registered to represent the Guild at the Stitches & Craft Show in Melbourne in October. For more information about the Fair see the Current Calendar page on this website.
The members of this group travel far to meet each month so share their “works in progress” on their blog. http://victorianrugmakers.blogspot.com.au/ There are some very talented artists and rughookers in this group.
Anne’s Christmas rug is now finished ready for Christmas 2015 – next project is the pear chair pad.
Chris has a 5 ft x 7 ft floor rug by Rittermere Designs (Canada) called ‘Tehran’ on her frame which is progressing nicely and for something more portable she has taken to punchneedle embroidery
In South Australia:
The new meeting place for the Strath Matters is working out nicely. You can now find them in the Supper Room of the Town Hall on High Street, Strathalbyn, on the first and third Friday of the month.
This display in the Museum at the Wanneroo Library and Cultural Centre was set up in February 2015 and will be in place until mid-April
The images displayed show the group of community rugmakers at work on the various projects created for the City and also some of their own creations.
The hooked dress created by this group, was an entry which made the finals of a Wearable Art competition in Mandurah last year.
Judy’s sewing machine stool top is a combination of traditional hooking and proddy – the sides are hooked with recycled t-shirts and the top is prodded with polar fleece to give more “cushioning”.
Anna set out to prod a rug in blocks of bright colours – because you work from the back when prodding she didn’t notice until well underway, her rectangles had turned into “waves” of colour. Viewing the completed work for the first time I admired her ability to create the wave effect which, as it turns out, was actually a “happy accident”.
Jo’s “Antique Rose” rug was hooked using the traditional rug hooking technique and strips of hand-dyed wool fabric, for a Show & Tell at a McGown Teachers Workshop in the USA.
Next to it is a piece by Jo shown in a Members Exhibition of the Western Australian Fibre & Textile Association. This was created by stitching a small piece of hooking, recycled sari-silk off-cuts on a piece of net curtain, to a length of silk eco-dyed by Judi Tompkins, the Guild’s webmaster.
Other small hooked and prodded pieces and a selection of current and antique rug hooking tools have created quite an interest in this relatively unknown craft.
Upstairs in the Library
Robin Inkpen visiting from Donnybrook, in the States southwest, showed several of her recent rughooked creations. Like most of us here in Australia, Robin uses recycled – make that up-cycled – fabrics in her hooked pieces.
Robin will be holding locker hooking workshops this month. (For more information; see the Current Calendar) Below, she shows Judy a small table mat created using the locker hooking technique and sari silk off-cuts.
Also visiting last Saturday morning was Helen from Albany, a coastal town in the far south of West Australia. Albany is often in the news these days with the commemoration of the ANZAC centenary. The first Australian fleet departed from there 100 years ago last October 30.
Helen bought with her a piece that she designed and started hooking some time ago. She drew up the design herself and to hook this very large mat is using recycled fabrics in the bright colours her daughter loves.
Above, Helen is explaining to Karen, (a first time visitor to the group) how she enlarged the design and transferred it to the hessian backing. On the table in the foreground is one of Robin’s wonderful hooked bags.
Nita sits quietly hooking away on a group project. When first started, this banner could be worked on by two people at the same time – with it draped over a frame at each end. Not possible to do now as it nears completion. It will be finished using Kira Mead’s Grid Back technique, with a backing fabric covering the grid and an Artist Statement attached.
NOT ALL THE CONVERSATION WAS ABOUT RUGHOOKING!
Rhonda, the groups treasured baker of goodies for our morning teas (pumpkin scones last week) listens to the two Anna’s discuss crocheted pieces to be added to the trees in front of the Library which have already been yarn-bombed.
This group is open to new members and visitors are welcome.
by: Jo Franco; Australian Rugmakers Guild/Membership Chair
Who’d have thought they would be discussing rug hooking at a Lifesaving Club!
In Bermagui a coastal town 380k (about a 5-hour drive) south of Sydney, the Bermagui & District U3A Rug Hooking group has undertaken a challenging project to create a 7m (23ft) hooked piece to be hung on the wall of the clubhouse of the Bermagui Surf Lifesaving Club to help absorb noise.
Dawn Hollins a member of this group has sent in these images and an explanation of the first stages of the project.
Rona Walker, our artist, with part of her design on paper.
The 7metre wall hanging will be done in 1 metre panels and each hung close together but separately. The weight will be considerable, however now the construction of the elevated wall section has been assessed the design is about to be transferred to the hessian panels.
Rona explains the process while rug hookers look on.
Here is the Surf Club building sketched in.
and Rachel Colombo’s “Tree” gives an idea of the “look” of the finished hooked panels.
Below are some of the Bermagui & District U3A rug hookers who will be working on the wall hanging for the Surf Club [Rachel Colombo (seated second from the left) Rona Walker (seated centre) and Rug hooking teacher, Lyn Potter (back row on right)
Dawn says:
We continue to attract new members and may even get a couple of men involved.
It’s clear that a community project gets people motivated. If we had just advertised it as a craft group we’d be lucky to get half a dozen. This way we get people hooked on the craft on a personal level but committed to creating something bigger than all of us to benefit the community.
We meet every Friday afternoon at the Bermagui Country Club but once we have built a large storage cupboard at the Surf Club we will need to meet there.
Sail from Sydney to New Zealand and return with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
departing March 30, 2016 and returning April 12, 2016.
Join Susie Stephenson and Heather Horsfall on the
Rug hooking adventure of a lifetime
as they visit Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.
In addition there is a 6-day pre-cruise tour of Sydney and Mollymook.
Susie Stephenson is a folk, fiber and rug hooking artist who owns Stephenson Fiber Arts, a rughooking studio in Edgecomb, Maine. She and her husband, Tom, have a farm where they raise Jacob Sheep and Angora Goats. Susie is the author of Designing and Hooking Primitive Rugs.
Heather Horsfall hooks and teaches art in Nova Scotia. She has a background in visual art and administration. She hosts creative adventures in the three places she and her partner call home Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Baja, Mexico.
Miriam Miller, President Emeritus, Australian Rugmakers Guild, is a rughooking instructor and author of Proggy & Hooky Rugs, the only Australian book on rug hooking. Miriam has welcomed many visiting International and Australian rug hookers to her Rug Room at Narrawilly Farm, Milton in the Mollymook area.(photo, Gillian Lett, Milton Ulladulla Times)
If you’re an early riser, you have the opportunity to actively participate and ask questions while watching the live show.
Click here to register to join Cami Smith’s interview with creative rughooker – Liz Alpert Fay, member of The International Guild of Handhooking Rugmakers
The time of the interview in the USA is Sunday 8th February @ 3.00pm which will be
6:00am Monday 9th Feb in Melbourne & Sydney
5:00am in QLD and
3:00am in Perth
If that’s too early for you – click the following link and scroll down to view the archived episode later in your day.
This interview is sponsored by RUG HOOKING MAGAZINE
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