Friday, September 30, 2016

~ Rug Hooking for Dummies ~

....well, not exactly FOR dummies ~ but
rug hooking Dummy Boards for sure :)

HOWDY Folks!
what is a dummy board you may ask yourself?
well, I have an answer for you...
{of course I do hehe}

a dummy board is simply a wooden board 
onto which a painted scene, person or animal was applied.
 {{{{click *HERE*  for a brief historical synopsis}}}}
 SO
I have been wanting to make a few of my own dummy boards
 after seeing Kathy Clark's beautiful hooked versions *HERE*

I wanted to make mine super simple and primitively-folky...so what else is new?
and I came up with a simple flower basket design reminiscent 
of the earlier hooked rugs
that I love the most.
 
so I started with this ~
a basic outline for a basket-shape, then went from there...



not really having a complete picture in my head yet, I just hooked using scraps in my worm pile{s}
and hooked in that now popular 'higgledy-piggledy' fashion,
which ~ if you've read my postings before,
 or are familiar with how I hook, 
I use the term 'wonky' for my uneven, never-straight & high/low loops.
and...so be it.

**in the current issue of Rug Hooking magazine 
there is an excellent article written by  Nancy Z. Parcels on this very technique ~ {a.k.a. 'antigodlin'}
I'll call it the 'Hig-Pig' technique most likely from here out though!



you'll see the base of my basket, 
some of the black background and fill-in between flowers are hooked hig/pig.
while the flowers, stems and upper portion of the basket are hooked in rows.
and by rows, I mean in my 'wonky' high/low/uneven loops, 
although they are  still standing in little rows,
~ for me, & so-to-speak. 

So i finished hooking the entire thing, blocked it and let it dry,
 then trimmed the linen edges away to within 1" of the last hooked border-row.
I turned the linen edge to the back and used tacky-glue to hold them down....
{I use Aleene's Tacky Glue ~ acid free, dries clear & flexible, avail. everywhere...}



 a close up of my loops...


so then off to the woodshop I went,
paper pattern in hand and armed with directions for my woodsmith-husband...
and in a jiffy my hubby & Chris 
{our left/right hand & much-appreciated wood-shop helper} 
had the wooden cut out for me to mount my project onto....then we painted the edges black and  attached a little wooden stand to the bottom/back so it will stand upright.

TaDa!  



don't you love it? 
I do....
~ here it is outside in daylight:

and here it is in various settings in the farmhouse ~


 I'm planning on making different dummy board designs,
... and offering patterns and the wooden backs for them.
I have so many things in my head that I just can't sleep anymore ~
we'll blame that partially on creativity, the other part will surely be blamed on menopause!
UGH.

well, at least the weather has cooled,
and although muggy ~ I feel like I can breathe a bit again.
plus with it being cooler, I'm happy to get back to my wools!

I'll be updating my 2017 schedule for workshops, classes & events ~
....keep an eye on my sidebar for the changing schedule.

AND Stay tuned for some super-exciting news!!!!

~ Blessings from the Farm ~
 Lori

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

HI LORI, just like you I have so many things in my head that it´s hard to sleep. I have moved all my sewing stuff to an other bigger room and hope I´ll be more organised and find what I look for and finish my UFOs so I can go on with new things. Louise D

linda said...

Love the board idea Lori; you and Peter are a wonderful team!

Anonymous said...

Brilliant idea! Cute, cute pattern, too. I have a dummy board Santa (Belsnickle) which I put out at Christmastime…There's always something new going on at Notforgotten Farm!!!!!

Jan Hebert said...

Exciting news! You're not pregnant are you?? Hehe! Just kidding! Look forward to hearing your news and your new schedule for 2017! Hoping you will be coming to Massachusetts again. Please!!? Oh, love your dummy board, very cute.

Jan Hebert said...

Exciting news! You're not pregnant are you?? Hehe! Just kidding! Look forward to hearing your news and your new schedule for 2017! Hoping you will be coming to Massachusetts again. Please!!? Oh, love your dummy board, very cute.

Jacqueline said...

Like the idea of a dummy board. And as a new hooker I appreciate your ease in style. Did you use the same glue to attach it to the board?

NMK said...

Love this idea , so cute !!!!

Krissy B. said...

Got my current order today and so love everything. I can't wait to order this dummy board set! I lose sleep thinking of all the designs you create that I want to make and I'd love to quit my job to have more time but I need to save for your hook-in next fall and I have to keep ordering fixes in the mean time so off to work I go. Addiction has it's price. LOL!

Rugs and Pugs said...

Great idea and the blog title cracked me up.
Hugs :)
Lauren

elaine allerton said...

Love, love ur hooked basket of flowers! So very sweet,,, great ideas,,,, love ur ideas,,, take care,,,,

woollabeast said...

FUN-FUN-FUN Lori! Love your sweet prim Flower Basket dummy board! Ohhh I can @@SEEEE@@ those wheels turning in your brain ~~ a line-up of "Dummy Boards" A'Comin !!! What about one of your IMPISH GRINNING Pumpkin Jack or Elf characters...many of us are SEASON-LOVERS & that'd be FUN to rotate out dummy boards for different seasons! :) And, agree with Krissy B. {addiction has it's price} LOL **I'm with you Krissy!! Hi-Hoooo & off to work weeee Gooooo! xoxo ~Diane