Where rug hooking wool meets imagination
I had a wonderful time this year at the rug camp in Manistee, MI. I’ve taught there the last few years and this was the first time I had the experience as a student. My teacher was Tish Murphy who is a master at hooking faces, particularly those small enough for a pin. These are [...]
In March, I taught faces at Southern Teachers’ Workshop. The difficulty of the assignment was that I only had one day to teach and whose face was I going to hook? I wanted to hook a portrait of my grandmother, but the students in the class would not be excited about that. I decided to [...]
This portrait of my imaginary woman is now complete. Notice the lower part of her neck. I think the uneven edge actually gives the neck more dimension. I did do a bit of tweaking once all the hooking was done. About the time I added the sashing, I decided to soften her forehead some more [...]
Look at the lower part of her neck. You can see by comparing it with the prior post that I ripped out some of it. I took about a 5″ wide piece of wool and sewed it on, right sides together, using the same method I use for finishing pillows. You can read more about [...]
Above is a picture showing the neck added. The photo on the right is the picture on the left with a transparent version of an earlier face. Note how the chin line is exactly the same as it was before. I added a neck, ears and hair and she looks completely different. This is a [...]
Notice how different she looks when I add the hair. I kept the forehead shape as it was hooked in the last post. I may decide to soften that later. I removed the one holding line I had hooked in the first step because the shape of the line was not quite right. I concentrated [...]
Now I have the face completely filled in so I can make some adjustments. The curve on the forehead is bothering me. I ripped out where the two colors join and move the line to make it softer. I will probably move hair onto the forehead later, so I am not too worried about the [...]
In this photo I have both eyes hooked. The light wool under the woman’s left eyebrow looks odd, but I will leave it in for now and re-evaluate this later. I’m not crazy about the nose at this stage either, but again, I will look at it again later after the face is completely hooked. [...]
When I begin a new project, I try to use all the colors right away. Here I have a bit of the value I intend to use for hair on the left. This is actually a piece of dark green wool. It is there to help me see the value that I will use later. [...]
Here I am testing out the background. I plan to use three slightly different shades of green spot dyes. The background will begin dark at the bottom and gradually lighten. I am not 100% sure it will work at this point. I will continue hooking until I am convinced it will not work — or [...]
The text of the series on footstool construction has been posted, but images for the last post and all the videos are still in progress. I will be offering for download a PDF with all the steps in one place once all the instructions are finalized.
Please note that the current instructions will probably change a bit as I work through this process.
Need an invite? Just contact me with your email address. I'll send it right out. This is a great site for inspiration!