Gene Shepherd's Internet Rug Camp

I’ve been going crazy looking for missing patterns the last 2 or 3 weeks.  One pattern, the Biennial elephant rug,  actually went missing about 2  months ago.  With it was all my work and computations about the different colors of nylon loops I would need.   While I’ve soldiered on without it, hopeful it would show up, on Wednesday, I was at the point where I either needed to find it or create all new patterns and computations.  The other two patterns were things that clients have wanted which I couldn’t find.  One for a while and one for a couple of weeks.  Fortunately, I’ve not had enough steam to do much with those patterns even if I found them but, enough is enough and it was time to find or redo all three patterns.

I started by going over, while standing on a ladder,  all the patterns rolled up in my storage shelves … to no avail.  Then, I went through the three 5 gallon buckets I keep for patterns I use all the time.  Two of the missing patterns should have been in them.  I must have sorted through all three buckets at least 5 or 6 times with no success.  That left me with only one option –

Going through the rolls one by one which means I had to take each one out, look it over and set it somewhere else.

That takes a bit of time to do so.  Fortunately, I found one errant pattern during that process.  It was small, stowed in an odd spot and pushed all the way back where it got covered up with other bigger patterns.

The more I pulled them out

The more I sorted them.  That’s partly for organizational reasons, when I am ready to put them back and for editing purposes.  For example, some designs have 8 or 10 rolls covering different kinds of patterns for that design.  Big Momma has a 6.5’ rug, a medium 4+foot rug, various table runners, pillows and other odd configurations that some people have asked for over the years.  A couple of designs have 2 or more finished versions … probably because I couldn’t find that pattern once and had to make another, so now have 2.  Several geometrics have patterns for 6, 8, 10, 12, 20 and 24 inch blocks, plus other over large sizes.  Then, there are all sorts of odd ball chair seat patterns, odd patterns I made once for a client and other things I’ve kept.  Hopefully, with everything out and sorted, I can condense many of these patterns into one or two bundles for each design and to save space.

I did find a couple of blasts from the pasts.

My favorite find was for Gene’s Birds, my 3rd rug, which I made at my first CPRC  (1999) and then sold.  All these parakeets were my actual birds – many having been raised from breeding pairs I also raised.

I did not know I had this pattern any more.  It’s rather fragile, being on newsprint paper.  If you can see all the writing it’s because I sent this pattern to my Cambria teacher, Jackye Hansen, before class.  She returned it to me with all her hooking suggestions neatly written all over it.

Of special note was the thin piece of netting rolled up in the pattern.  This is how I transferred my original  pattern to monk’s cloth.  I covered the paper pattern with the netting, then traced the design onto the netting.  Once done, I placed the netting on my monk’s cloth and retraced the design through the netting.  I also found a bundle for Good Queen Bess, another early (and still unfinished rug) that I also prepped in the same way for a class with Elizabeth Black after I moved to Anaheim.

Happily, another find was the stack of Biennial elephant project info stashed into and hidden by  several rolls.  That left me with one missing pattern.

After going through all the rolls taken off the shelves, I went through, again, all three buckets of patterns until,

I found the last pattern right in bucket 3 where it was supposed to have been all along.  I have no idea how this happened.

All the rolls will go back into the storage area, hopefully in edited and organized fashion with the next few days.

Now, the other thing I can’t remember is

Who wanted Elizabeth Black’s Tiger?  If you did, please let me know.

As predicted, I got up early and dyed 4 big batches of wool.

As it dried, Elise dropped by for help in finishing up a project.

Some time ago, I posted about drawing a pattern for her based on a rug her late mother hooked.  It was designed from a photo of 3 granddaughters staring at the ocean while on a family vacation many years ago.  With grandma gone, all three of those little girls (now grown mothers themselves) wanted the original rug that Grandma made with that design.  As a solution, Elise decided to make 2 copies of the rug so her daughter and two of her nieces (the 3 little girls) could have one of “grandmas” rugs.  Elise is showing the first rug I drew for her.  Instead of drawing a second “new” pattern, Elise brought me an ocean rug her mother started but never finished.  As it had sky, ocean, a light house and some ocean, both of us thought we could impose the 3 granddaughters at the right spot, allowing Elise to create that third rug with part of it actually hooked by her late mother.  After she picked almost enough sky and water, it was fairly easy to over draw that new pattern.  We both think how nice it is to use this unfinished piece of Grandma’s.

After lunch, I was able to dry the wool and did a little experimentation with some of it.

As suggested, I’ve added a striped center background to the Lincoln rug.  While it’s hard to see here

In person, it is quite noticeable.  Although I am still experimenting, I think I quite like it.  Remember,  the outer border will be all Antique Black.

All the different things I did made for a day with lots of welcome variations.

Although I started hooking at 5:30 AM, I don’t have anything I am ready to show today.

However

I did get three pots of wool soaking for a dye session early Wednesday.

Any time I work on one of my new patterns, I end up tweaking the design while I am hooking it.  There are 2 examples in the work I did today.

The longer I look at the background, the more I’ve weighed various options for hooking it.  After repeatedly having a nagging feeling about this part of the design, I decided to add some more design elements to the background.  I may end up not using them but, I can’t shake the idea.

As ideas go, it’s a very simple one.  I see some sort of striped motif in the center section.  While I don’t expect to replicate these new lines exactly, whatever striped motif I end up with will be improved if I have some scribed guide lines in the center section of that pattern.  That’s how I’ll keep my line- age straight and consistent from one end to the other.  And, as there isn’t too much done yet except for some stuff in the center, NOW is the time to get those guide lines in.  So, I quickly drew some on both ends of the rug before there were too many other competing elements going on .  As an FYI about this decision, I find stripes to be both very interesting AND rather formal.  After all, this rug is inspired by what I think the Lincoln’s had in their formal parlor.  Additionally, it will sit on a very busy carpet with a large lattice design – XXXXXXXXXX.  I think even a subtle decoration that suggests ========, with a bold black border, will stand out over the lattice and catch the eye.

I also was a bit unhappy with my big bunch of flowers in the center.  All the flowers are basically the  same round shape.

So

I turned one round padulla into a more pointy sort of big daisy.  Time will tell if this is a good decision … but I think it is.

What do you think?

In case you missed the explanation, the center white flower will be surround by 3 light/white/beige flowers and 3 deep red ones.

The odd juxtaposition of white/beiges/pinks/reds/oranges is because Mrs. Lincoln seems to have used those colors together in the formal parlor and adjoining dinning room.  When viewed separately, they seem a bit odd but, my theory is that odd colors will go together if you put them together in a bold and confident way.

Hopefully, that is what I am doing.

1st Thursday, and a fairly free schedule for a while, got me back into a hooking mood.  Consequently every day over the weekend, I’ve managed to hook a little bit on my current project.

With both Betty and Janet having finished the Lincoln Formal Parlor Rug, I feel like I need to burn the midnight oil until I get my version finished too.  I’m a little bit slow on this rug as I am working out both my colors and the final design elements as I hook.  While I do a little bit of experimenting and re-hooking, I am fairly happy with what I’ve done thus far and pretty focused on what I need to do in the other areas of the rug.

While Betty and Janet have made color choices determined by their likes and, in some cases, the excess wool they have in their stash, all my choices are being motivated by my research on what I think Mary Lincoln would have wanted in her main parlor to go with all her things.  I’ve reached these conclusions thorough consultation with the curator of the Lincoln home and my actual time spent looking at original furnishings and wall and carpet coverings known to have been in this particular room.  I’ve also thought about what needs to happen in this rug if it is to be a focal point that brings everything in the room together.

Time will tell if my choices are correct.

Although I got back on Saturday, I’ve taken it rather easy since I haven’t been up to speed for a while.  Still, I’ve worked a little on Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday, however, found me doing a lot more work.

I started the day working up something I am going to need as a visual for a workshop I will be teaching in July.

While that cooked, I started cleaning and straightening the studio for 3rd Thursday, which is this  Thursday.  As I was under the weather when I left for St. Louis, I left the studio in a mess.  So, there was the detritus of prep work for those classes, plus other stalled projects that I would have gotten done early in the month if I had not been under the weather.

Some of the piles of work just needed to be completed as stowing them away uncompleted just creates more things to trip over.  I.e. A stitch in time saves nine.

So

I sewed a few carpet rags on Tuesday and several more on Wednesday.

Which removed three stacks of torn strips in the studio.

I closed shop for the day with things ready to go on Thursday.

Actually, it will be nice to have people over on Thursday as Marsha’s gardens are looking very nice.

Nice gardens, a clean studio and friends for hooking – it should be a good day.

While I looked around all rooms of the St. Louis Art Museum, I managed to get to the section showing the work of Impressionists early in my wanderings.

It’s not that I don’t like other art – I do.  However, being able to stand in front of good art – particularly good Impressionist paintings – is just a delightful thing to do.  You just see so much more when you can get up close and personal.

And while this is not my all time van Gogh favorite

It’s amazing to see all he went through to create it.  And, as I’ve said many times on these posts, after classic mosaics, it’s the strokes of Van Gogh that remind me so much of the rug hooker’s art form.

Of course, painters can blend and smear their paints much easier than we can our wool strips.

Still, you can learn a lot about the interplay of light and dark when looking at good art.

Not to forget being able to study the dramatic use of color.

Again

You can see so much more when you can get close to the work.

And, it’s always good to encounter some artists who may not be on your short list of favorites.  That is how I’ve been with Picasso.  After coming face to face with his dynamic Guernica mural in Madrid, which left me speechless,  I’ve been much more open to his work and glad to run onto 3 new ones in St. Louis.

I particularly liked this vase of flowers and what ever is being served.

Therefore, these modern pieces made a much bigger impression on me than they would have 10 years ago.

Of course, I still like seeing new to me classical pieces – particularly when it’s of something I’ve seen in person, like these two behemoths in Egypt.   Isn’t this a lovely sunset?

It was a good visit, as well as a reminder that we learn by intimate contact with masters at work.

After viewing the special Matisse Exhibit at the St. Louis Museum pf Art, I took a quick tour through the rest of the regular collection, starting first with the Classical Wing.

Ancient mosaics are, of course, on of the best mediums for rug hookers to study

As mosaic pieces are put in just like rows of hooked wool.  It’s always a learning experience spending some time with any good mosaic as they are classic!

I moved on to some good Greek pottery.  In this case, I paid special attention to the decorative repetitive border desings.

I particularly liked the way the Greek Key border was done in an irregular fashion – 3 keys and then one X design.  That was very clever.

i never get tired of studying the decorative elements on these vases.

Varying shapes, designs and paint values makes for great designs.

I also liked looking at the funerary masks the ancients employed during the Classical period.

Now this is what I call a classy hairdo.

Classical sculpture is also inspiring.

The movement

The timeless realism

A classic look is a classic look.

I was fascinated by this ram’s head

And the elegant look of this bull.

Today’s post will end with this classical wall hanging.  No, it’s not from a king’s robe …

It’s made with metal wrappers from the tops of liquor bottles.

I think it looks more classy when you don’t know what was used to make it.

All my time last week in St.Louis was spent on the Hill.

Nola’s studio complex is located in three houses on two lots on Elisabeth Street, on the Hill.  She is shown here with the Matise Goldfish Bowl she worked on with me last fall in Arkansas.

This class photo was taken in the main house, which she uses for her hooking studio  where  2 classrooms, 1 showroom, a kitchen and bathroom are located.  I taught there for 2 days.  The basement provides an office space for her husband.  The second house has a big dye studio in the basement, while the top floor has 2 rentable bedrooms with bath and a kitchen that several students used.  My third day there was spent doing a dye class in that basement.  Her third house has the main floor configured as a full guest house, where I stayed, plus a basement where I think she sews pattern edges and other things.  All of these house are on Elizabeth Street … on the Hill.

The Hill is the highest spot in greater St. Louis.  It’s located very close to the place where the 1904 (Meet me in St.Louie, Louie ..) World’s Fair was held.  As some of the buildings for that fair where made of stone for permanent use after the fair, the organizers brought in several stone masons from Italy to build them.  Many of those families decided to stay and did so by buying new little houses on the hill in the early years of 1900.  Within no time, other Italian families joined them, creating a little Italy sort of place.  It’s still, very much, an Italian enclave.

Many of merchants run family businesses that go back to the early days of 1900.

While the Missouri Baking Company sells all sorts of backed goods, their specialty is Italian cookies and pastries.  The current owner, shown here, is 3rd generation of this family run business.  I can repeat the same basic story at the restaurants where I ate and the Italian Deli where I shopped.  While the deli sold their own products, they also sold other Hill created meats, sausages and salamis that other family business on the Hill produce.

I loved the spirit on the Hill.

We even found a little free time to go to other newer business – one was a wonderful antique store attached to a magnificent warehouse like eating place featuring wine and Italian appetizers.

It was all in a beautiful renovation that was picture perfect.

My only regret

Was not buying a Matisse print that I found there.  While Nola offered to ship it to me, I won’t have room for the art I already own when we down size to a condo! Maybe I should make it as a  rug?

And, Elizabeth street does not just produce hooking, fiber art, antiques, gelato and other fine Italian food.  Just 5 blocks down Elizabeth from Nola

Is the house where a guy named Lawrence grew up.

However, everyone called him Yogi.

And, directly across the street from him was another house

That also produced a ball player.

His name was

Not too shabby for one street  – and Joe’s brother also ended up being a professional player too.

Along side of the Hill are other attractions which you can see from the highway and streets.

I did not have time to go to the St. Louis Zoo but, did get there on my 8th grade trip to St. Louis and at other times as well.

Marsha and I even spent a day at the Missouri Botanical Gardens while on our Honeymoon, almost 49 years ago this May.

It’s a big site with all sorts of marvelous plantings.

However,

My favorite feature at these Gardens has always been the Climatron, which I first started going to shortly after it opened in 1960.

Again, Nola was a great tour guide for me and some of the other out of town students.

It was pretty much like I remembered it.

Except

Chihuly has been there

Since I was!

I had a great visit on the Hill.