Rug of the Month: July 2017

For July’s Rug of the Month, Ania was in the mood for some summer seashells. Summer is a time of year when a lot of people hang out by the ocean and at the beach, and seashells are a beautiful symbol of that pastime. Therefore, in celebration of summer, this month’s rug is from a pattern by Michele Micarelli, named “Seashore.”

Take a look below to read Ania’s thoughts on this rug (and see some pictures of her real life inspiration for creating it!):

Here is Ania’s complete “Seashore” rug.

Why did you decide to take on this project?

I decided to do a seashell project because I love seashells. It’s as simple as that! When I was 8 years old, I decided I wanted to be an oceanographer, and work for Jacques Cousteau (of course, later on I realized I couldn’t make a living doing that and so I set my sights on Chemistry instead).

I would catch polywogs as a little kid with a net my father made from a broken hanger and a pair of pantyhose! I would bring them home under the conviction that I could raise frogs. My love of the sea is how my family has ended up with a long, long line of pet fish.

That love of the sea naturally extended to a love of seashells. I collected (and still collect) seashells. I started as a little kid. Every time we went to the beach or on vacation, I would pick out some cool, new specimen. Seashells from my personal collection are some of the inspiration for this rug.

 

Here is a detail shot of the center shells in the rug.

How did you choose which seashells from your collection to include?

I chose shells that matched those that were in the pattern, shape wise. I used my shells as inspiration for what colors to use. Every single shell in the pattern is based off of a shell that I actually own in my collection. This includes even shells that might seem a little bit embellished at first glance. For example, the purple scallop shell (which can be seen in the picture above), is based on my purple scallop shell.

In this shot, you can see some details in the coral and kelp.

What was the toughest part about this project?

Deciding whether or not I wanted to leave the longer ends of the kelp in tact on the rug. I didn’t know if deciding not to trim them would be frowned upon or not. I ultimately decided to keep them long – I liked the way it looked and I wanted it to be reminiscent of real kelp you’d find on the beach.

 

This is a selection of some of Ania’s shell collection – see if you can spot a couple of the shells featured in her rug.

What’s your favorite part of this rug?

That each of the shells in the rug is based on a real shell. I like that each shell has a real counterpart to the shells that I own. I like the coral that I hooked into it – even though it’s much more colorful than any coral I own, because all of the coral I own is dead.

It was fun to hook!

Anything else of note about this rug?

I used a lot of varied fibers in this rug, a lot of decorative yarns. I used these fibers mostly in the water in the background behind the shells. I did this to help create movement and texture in the rug.

I was also experimenting a lot at this point in my journey as a rug hooker – I was trying different things to see how they looked and came out, and it was a  lot of fun!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below!