new rug almost ready to be released from the frame







 

 

It's exciting working from alternate sides of the rug frame and critiquing your design from different viewpoints. I find this way of working becomes almost compulsive as I near the completion of a rug. A rug maker labours over a design that will ultimately be stepped on and walked over. This potentially humbling fact, can charge the design with a vitality that puts a veritable spring in the step (particularly if it's the tread of a bare foot). The rug, released from the frame and viewed from the biped's changing perspective, begins to gain a new energy...  









seen from the reverse







orange getting zesty in the artificial light!

It's interesting working in the evening's artificial light and seeing colours change and vibrate. Viewing the rug again in the morning light, I try to discern it's 'true colours'. But which are its true colours? I'm not sure. For hearth rugs, associated as they are with the embers of the day, seem best appreciated by flickering firelight. I'm not in the slightest bit tempted to use daylight bulbs. I think of rug makers in the 1930s, working by gas light. In keeping with the seasonal tradition of starting a new rug after harvesting, and completing it in time for Christmas, this rug was begun in a timely fashion. But, I'm way ahead of myself! It'll be finished before November (looking forward to the hanseling ceremony 'tho).