"CLIFF BY THE SEA", PREPARATION FOR PENLAND CLASS

"Cliff by the Sea"  13 1/4 X 10 X 2 1/2  Lori LaBerge 2012

One more rock rug was completed before I spend the next two weeks taking a weaving class at Penland. The rock used for "Cliff by the Sea" reminded me of the White Cliffs of Dover.  A photo of the cliffs can be seen here. Since the area of the cliffs has a fence line, I created one for my own "cliff".

 Close-up of fence and rock,  "Cliff by the Sea"  Lori LaBerge  2012

The fence took on a rougher look, weathered a bit by time. Old picture hangers, nails, wire and fishing weights were gathered. The weights were used as buoys hanging from the upright posts of the fence.

I have also been busy ordering supplies for a rug weaving class with Michael Rohde at Penland. It is a two-week course with studios open 24-7.  I will let you know how it is going next week.  The thought of combining weaving and rug hooking has been in the back of my mind for a while and I am hoping I can acquire enough skills to make this happen.

Since I am new to weaving and have not created a design yet, I had a difficult time ordering colors.  How much of each color will I need?  There is red, orange, light purple, dark purple, white and black.  Hopefully, it will all work out.

Some of the typical supplies for classes.  On the back right side, there is  a book on rug techniques by Peter Collingwood.  I'm finding the book fairly technical.  It should be easier to follow when I am actually looking at a loom rather than visualizing one.  I could not find a site of the late Peter Collingwood's work, but his son Jason has a great site here.  Lots of geometric eye candy under the gallery heading.

Here are items I am totally unfamiliar with.  On top are a heddle hook, for threading and a rug beater for packing down each row of weaving.  The second row is a temple for keeping the edges of the rug straight.  The bottom two are stick shuttles for holding the yarn as weaving is done.  Do I sound like I know what I'm talking about?  I'm so much more comfortable with rug hooking tools.

Yesterday, I started creating an art journal with photos of colors, textures, and ideas for the class. It is great to feel like a kid again, cutting and pasting photos from magazines. 

Here is my journal page on texture.  Bumpy, rough, furry, I love them all!  Most of the photos I cut out are from one of my favorite magazines, Interior Design.  

Next up were design and color.  You can really learn a lot about yourself by doing this exercise.   There was no surprise that I veer toward contemporary designs.  The surprise came with the circles, not a shape I find myself using much.  I love all color combinations, but analogous ruled with a bit of complementary.  The simple act of pasting one picture over another gave me some great ideas for future pieces.

Grab yourself an art journal (you don't need anything fancy), reach for your inner child and have a great day.

METAL MEETS ROCK RUGS

Since I've been using both new and salvaged metal parts in wall pieces, it was only a matter of time before metal began to be used in the rock rugs.

"Caged Rose Quartz"  12 3/4" x 8 1/4" x 2 1/2"   Lori LaBerge  2012

Close-up of wire wrapping.  Lori LaBerge  2012

Rocks are embedded and safely surrounded within their natural homes before being removed, mined, sold raw or worked into finished gems.  The rose quartz shown above has thick picture hanging wire wrapped around it to simulate a caged and trapped environment.   It is more along the lines of keeping things protected and safe from the outside world.   The rougher wire was used to compliment the rough cut of the rock itself.  The rock is set on its own island section of the rug.  The various blues portray water flowing between the various land formations.

"Camelot"  13" x 9" x 2 1/2"  Lori LaBerge  2012

Shades of pink, green, dark gray and off white were used in the rug above to bring out the variety of colors in the piece of watermelon tourmaline.   Again, the thought of rocks being kept safe in a natural home was used.   In this case, the rock is fenced into its own little area within the rug.

  Close-up of watermelon tourmaline rock.  Lori LaBerge  2012

Working on these pieces made me think of how often we confine people or things, not to purposely imprison them, but to keep them safe.  We see children playing out in the streets less than they used to, we keep our pets indoors, we place our money in a bank and we have fences around our homes.  There is no animosity in these actions.  We merely want to keep our children, pets, money and homes safe.  It is interesting how confinement can be both good and bad.

Think about what you keep confined in your life ( I like to keep my work tools confined in their little box and, yes, I'm guilty of keeping my chocolate in a certain place).  Have a great day.

NEW WORK AND A VISIT FROM RUG HOOKING MAGAZINE

Two new pieces mixing rug hooking with local raw gems were completed this past week. The people over at the local gem shop have been extremely helpful in educating me in identifying various rocks from the area.

Lori LaBerge  2012

This work features a beautiful piece of raw emerald.

As in similar works I have done, the wool used is from leftover strips kept in one of two large plastic bins. One bin is mostly 6-cut strips and the other 3 and 4-cut strips.

I really need to use these up as they are beginning to take up quite a bit of space in the studio.

The second work uses a piece of tourmaline with bits of garnet. I chose the red for it to sit on to pick up on the bits of garnet which are a reddish brown color.

Lori LaBerge  2012

While working on the above pieces, I received a call that the editor of Rug Hooking Magazine, Debra Smith, was in the area visiting a friend and would like to see the studio. The women came over on Tuesday and we had a wonderful time discussing various aspects of rug hooking. We talked about some recent dyeing Debra had done, tools of the trade, the need to preserve the history of the craft, as well as the importance of moving the craft forward with contemporary works.

During the conversation, I was offered the opportunity to write and present an article to the magazine. I'll be taking notes and putting ideas together while also preparing for the Toe River Open Studio Tour in June. Busy is a good thing!

Reading on the deck.  Just happened to be finishing up Chinese take-out with a fortune cookie, actually believed to be introduced by the Japanese and mostly consumed by Americans, so this dessert was perfect with the cover.

Enjoy the opportunities that come your way, thank the people that make them possible and have a great day.

Note:  I apologize for extra spaces left at the bottom of some blogs.  Blogspot simply does not seem to be letting me delete these at present.

AMETHYST "ROCK RUG"

If there is one thing I have learned through doing studio tours and shows it is to have smaller items available. Right now there are quite a few larger items in my studio ready to hang for the Toe River Studio Tour in June, but there is a need for some smaller items. I like to have something different every year and this year I will be mixing local gems and minerals with rug hooked mats.

Amethyst "rock rug"  Lori Laberge  2012

I really enjoy working on these pieces. They give me a chance to search through my stash of strips leftover from other projects and use them to create something new. The purple of the amethyst led to a double compliment color sheme with purple, yellow, turquoise and red-orange. White was added in as a neutral to give a contrasting space for the amethyst rock to be placed on. The piece would have been too busy and distracted from the rock if I had brought too much color into the center area.

Close-up of whipped edge

The photo above gives a good look at the whipped edges. The piece goes from lighter values in the middle to darker values on the edge. I chose turquoise and purple in darker values for the whipping and used some leftover Paternayan yarn to go with the outer edge of the hooking.

This photo gives an idea of how the rug mat looks in situ.

One person saw these pieces and said "Every rock needs a rug." I love this, it reminds me of when I was a kid and we all had pet rocks. 

Enjoy the little things in art and life and have a great day.