REUSE OF FOUND ITEMS, COMMISSIONED RUG ARRIVES

"Deception of Beauty", 18 1/2"  X  34 3/4",  Lori LaBerge  2012

"Deception of Beauty" has finished the hooking and embellishing stage and is ready for edging and hanging work.  It's funny how projects change as you work on them. My original plan was to have wires protrude through the center of the piece, but as the work progressed I found myself acquiring various objects found throughout the house.  Some old washers, leftover strands of whipping yarn, and part of an old chain were positioned on the hooked work.  It seemed like with these items in hand, the piece basically finished itself.

Close-up, "Deception of Beauty"  Lori LaBerge 2012

The piece works on the premise that beauty can be deceiving.  The old items used were painted and otherwise improved upon, creating a sense of the new.  The viewer does not see the original appearance of the items or what lies behind the "make-up".  He or she has to determine where the deception comes in.

On another note, the middle of the week held a surprise.   I received notice that the rug my husband and I had commissioned from Alicia Keshishian had arrived.  Not only was the rug done, but Alicia was in town and delivered it herself!

Photo provided by Alicia Keshishian of weavers working on our rug.

Alicia drove over to the house with Laurey Masterton, who was in Alicia's color class at Penland with me.   Laurey runs a restaurant in Asheville, NC.  She is also working on a cookbook with recipes revolving around honey.  Keep an eye out for it on her website.

My husband Pete, myself, and Alicia.  We were excited as the rug was rolled out.  The colors were perfect and the design adds a terrific sense of style to the room.

The rug on its own.  Just beautiful.  The target in the lower left corner is for my husband, who is a competitive shooter and was captain of the U.S. Highpower Rifle Team for seven years and Individual National Champion in 1991.

As the first part of this week's blog was about reuse, I can't sign off without mentioning the Surplus section of Alicia's website.  It is here that she makes use of excess yarns by creating smaller rugs.  

Find some items in your home that are normally put to waste, think about how you may be able to put them to use and have a great day.

ON THE OTHER END OF A RUG COMMISSION

I was excited this past week as FedEx drove up the driveway to deliver a carpet sample of a rug my husband and I are having commissioned. I have done quite a few commissions on rug designs, but this time I am enjoying being on the other end.

Rug sample section of a rug being designed for our home by Alicia Keshishian.

When I took a color class at Penland School of Crafts, the designs of Alicia Keshishian really caught my eye. The entry of our home needed a 10-foot runner, so after classes were finished I spoke with Alicia about a design for this area. She has been a joy to work with. My husband and I e-mailed our thoughts about design to her along with photos of the entryway. Alicia took everything into consideration in creating a look that would fit perfect in our home.

Some of the wool samples sent for thoughts on color. Most of these colors were lightened up in the design process.

My husband is a competitive rifle shooter along with having been captain of the U.S. Palma Team. We have been lucky enough to have had the chance to travel to a number of foreign countries through his sport. I wanted the rug to somehow represent this part of his life. Rather than a straight forward target design, Alicia came up with a great abstracted look for it. This was perfect as it keeps with her own sense of design, yet still speaks to us.

  Close-up of rug design by Alicia Keshishian.  The motifs are in silk wool.

We have given the green light on the final design. The weaving process will take a while and I will post pictures of the rug when it arrives and is placed in the entryway of our home.

Our entryway, patiently awaiting its new rug.

As a rug maker and artist, I would recommend that anyone in the same profession commission a work at least once to be able to see it from the other person's side. It allows you to have a deeper understanding of why a person is asking for specific features in a work.

Try seeing things from someone else's perspective, keep true to yourself and have a great day.