Hand-Hooked Rug Art

As a teacher of children's art classes for many years, Liz Alpert Fay is continually inspired by the direct, uninhibited approach children have in everything they do. When she started creating her handmade rugs, she strived for that same freshness and spontaneity in her work. She loves to incorporate old fabrics from recycled clothing, fabrics with their own history, and put them alongside bright new contemporary fabrics. She views rug making as creating art that can be used on the floor or hung on the wall. Her rugs are warm and rich and become more beautiful with time and use.

Liz starts by creating a full-scale sketch on large newsprint. She traces it with a black marker and traces it again onto linen or cotton backing material using a light box. She selects and dyes her wool by hand to achieve the perfect colors and special effects. Liz cuts the wool and cloth into narrow strips with a cloth-cutting machine, which works like a pasta machine. The material is fed along a metal guide while she turns a crank. The cloth passes over a blade and comes out in uniform strips.

Next, she stretches the backing material over a wooden frame with teeth and holds it in her lap. She chooses a strip of material and holds it under the frame with her left hand. With her right hand on top of the frame, she uses a hooking tool to pull the material up through the holes of the backing, forming a loop. The challenge is in creating uniform loops. The loops are hooked in different directions to create a very important element in her rugs — movement.

Once the hooking is done, she turns it over and inserts toothpicks wherever there are gaps. Then she stretches it on the frame again and goes back to fill in the spots. For the edges, she braids yarn and stitches it to the rug or attaches cloth strips to a cord at the edge and wraps it with yarn, a process known as "whipping".

Finally, damp towels are placed on the top and bottom of the rug and then steamed with a hot iron to flatten it and create a finished look. Each rug takes about a month or more just to hook, but the final result is worth the time. Each rug Liz creates is colorful, playful and joyous. Each rug is a spontaneous work of art.

Resources