Happy New Year! We’re starting the year off with a brand new project. This month’s rug is from a pattern named “Solitude,” designed by Ania. She hooked it in #4 strips of wool, and it measures 8″ X 8″.
Read on to learn more about the project, and to see images of the completed rug:
What was the inspiration behind this project?
Last year I gave a talk on how to hook stained glass rugs in the Louis Comfort Tiffany style. After the talk, members of the guild requested that I teach a workshop on the same topic, sometime this year. This being the age of Zoom, I gave the talk online and it looks likely I will teach the workshop online as well. I have been very enthusiastic about projects inspired by stained glass, and especially Tiffany-style stained glass, for several years now.
I love the challenge of translating the glass into dyeing techniques, and then using that wool to mimic the look of stained glass in a rug. I chose to make a lily pad pattern, because they’re a common motif in Tiffany windows. I also really like lily pads, which you can tell based on how often I hook them! I thought it would be fun to design a simple pattern that could be used to teach key hooking techniques to mimic the look of confetti, favrile, or drapery glass.
How did you approach color planning for this project?
It was very simple – I used all spot dyed wools, and used colors suitable for sky, water, the lily pad, and lead. I didn’t want to get too experimental with the colors as I plan on using this rug to help teach during a workshop.
Is there anything else of note to you about this rug?
With stained glass rugs, I like using a technique when I dye the wool that I call stained glass spot dyeing, where I intentionally leave white spots in my wool. When you hook with it, it gives you brightness in your rug that looks like sunlight shining directly through your window.
I’m looking forward to teaching the class, whether it ends up in-person or online, and if you’re interested in doing a similar workshop, I’d be happy to work with you to pull something together. Please message me to let me know of your interest by leaving comments on this post. This piece is nice and quick – you can finish it in a day or two.
My Mother's a Hooker 