I’ve been working on the Wind & Waves portion of the riser designs for the shop staircase. I thought it would be interesting to incorporate a two rug riser design, one stacked over the other to tell a tale. It brings a bit of artistic whimsy to the fifteen risers, adding a touch of distinction from the other singular designed patterns. I am toying with doing a second double riser design with a Peggy’s Cove lighthouse and red sky at night but we’ll see. I can envision that beautiful sunset sky, with reds, pinks and oranges streaked across the rug and the lighthouse sending out its beam of light to keep sailors safe.
I didn’t want standard, more simplistic patterns for this project. Not that simple is unattractive, I just wanted something more detailed and interesting than anchors or ships wheels. I wanted special art pieces, with stories to capture interest. Not that a trio of nautical items would be simple, the artistry is in the hooking, not the drawing and any object shaded distinctively could be aesthetically pleasing, but I visualize a staircase with unique adaptations of things in, on or around the sea. These rugs are small, 5” x 29” so there isn’t a lot of space to be creative, but I am trying to pack in as much punch as I can.
I have so many ideas for risers and I’m wondering if there will be an end to this line. I’m nautically oriented, love working with the primary colours that scream boats, navigational symbols, marine life and the sea. The designs could go to infinity but for my purpose, I only need 15 to complete the shop staircase although I’ll end with 20 to match the count of the County Charm Riser Line. Actually when I got to work I see that I only need 14 as the first step has a shortened riser with a quarter round all along the bottom, cutting into the 5” depth by 1 ¼”. Guess I won’t be hooking one for there.
For this particular set, the waves are whimsically stylized and exaggerated, so the blustery sky and wind needed to be complimentary. I had a lot of fun hooking these two pieces but there was a bit of work to make them show a continuous flow from one rug to the other. They had to match up perfectly so I have to line up the waves finished rug on my frame under the wind to select the right wools so they blended well.
It took a lot of wool to pull off those waves. There are three base colours....turquoise, a rich blue and an aqua green, then variations of each within them; some bright, other’s dull and all else in between. There are 24 different coloured wools all together, eight in each wave. For such small motifs, it took a wool village to hook one wave. I outlined them with a #3 cut of navy to accentuate and separate them. It really makes them pop this way.
I hooked the sky simply, following the curves as they blew from the Wind God’s mouth. Then all the surrounding areas followed suit. The sky colours were three shades lighter than the waves, making it all cohesive tonally.
The Wind God was a test in working with low contrast lights of skin tones, grey and highlights of white. He could have been washed out but with a few strategically placed darks for shading, he popped.
I should be able to knock off the wind this evening and then I’m torn deciding on the next project. I really thought the Kraken was next but then I designed the Sea Serpent which tantalizes a fraction more, bringing this creature to life will be titillating. It’s not an original design, I actually carved this monster for my boat in wood, the pattern was offered in a book that was copyright free.
I’ve been playing with this design in my head and I’ll have spent hours thinking of it before I sit in my favourite hooking chair to begin. The right green is key and I have whittled it down to two choices, Lime or Green with Envy, each will tell a different story and either will be marvelous but I have to make a decision between the two and soon. I’ve asked Shane to dye both for me in six value swatches so when I’m ready the wool will be available. I might have to do a eeny, meeny, miny, moe, it’s that close. I want the serpent to be luminous; to glow from its position on the stairs. I want it to steal the eye and hold the viewers gaze before perusing the others. Hopefully I can achieve this effect, especially when the Kraken is going to be a tight contender for attention. I’m not going crazy with detail, shading to the ninth degree, after all they are only carpets for the stairs, not museum quality pieces, so I’m working mostly in #5, not the detail oriented #3. I don’t have the time for that kind of fine cut business if I want them hooked this year. My goal is for maximum impact with minimum effort.
Now that there are almost seven finished, with seven more to go, I will have to start thinking about positions on the stairs. For now they are randomly placed with no particular thought to how they will be displayed and perhaps I’ll wait until they are all available to see which ones play best next to each other but I should be sewing on the Velcro as they are just laying up against the risers and beginning to curl and slump. That’s a lot of finish work at one time so I should address each one as I do them. I need to sew the folded edge of the burlap (yes I hooked them on burlap) down to the back of each rug, for the moment they are only steamed pressed to hold. I could use glue but that feels tacky, pardon the pun, I don’t want them gummed up with hard bits of melted goop. I’ll figure out a way to keep the work to a minimum, they say give a job to a lazy person and they’ll figure out a way to do a job faster and easier so I guess I’ll don my thinking cap. Any suggestions for an easy finish are appreciated.
I didn’t want standard, more simplistic patterns for this project. Not that simple is unattractive, I just wanted something more detailed and interesting than anchors or ships wheels. I wanted special art pieces, with stories to capture interest. Not that a trio of nautical items would be simple, the artistry is in the hooking, not the drawing and any object shaded distinctively could be aesthetically pleasing, but I visualize a staircase with unique adaptations of things in, on or around the sea. These rugs are small, 5” x 29” so there isn’t a lot of space to be creative, but I am trying to pack in as much punch as I can.
I have so many ideas for risers and I’m wondering if there will be an end to this line. I’m nautically oriented, love working with the primary colours that scream boats, navigational symbols, marine life and the sea. The designs could go to infinity but for my purpose, I only need 15 to complete the shop staircase although I’ll end with 20 to match the count of the County Charm Riser Line. Actually when I got to work I see that I only need 14 as the first step has a shortened riser with a quarter round all along the bottom, cutting into the 5” depth by 1 ¼”. Guess I won’t be hooking one for there.
For this particular set, the waves are whimsically stylized and exaggerated, so the blustery sky and wind needed to be complimentary. I had a lot of fun hooking these two pieces but there was a bit of work to make them show a continuous flow from one rug to the other. They had to match up perfectly so I have to line up the waves finished rug on my frame under the wind to select the right wools so they blended well.
It took a lot of wool to pull off those waves. There are three base colours....turquoise, a rich blue and an aqua green, then variations of each within them; some bright, other’s dull and all else in between. There are 24 different coloured wools all together, eight in each wave. For such small motifs, it took a wool village to hook one wave. I outlined them with a #3 cut of navy to accentuate and separate them. It really makes them pop this way.
I hooked the sky simply, following the curves as they blew from the Wind God’s mouth. Then all the surrounding areas followed suit. The sky colours were three shades lighter than the waves, making it all cohesive tonally.
The Wind God was a test in working with low contrast lights of skin tones, grey and highlights of white. He could have been washed out but with a few strategically placed darks for shading, he popped.
I should be able to knock off the wind this evening and then I’m torn deciding on the next project. I really thought the Kraken was next but then I designed the Sea Serpent which tantalizes a fraction more, bringing this creature to life will be titillating. It’s not an original design, I actually carved this monster for my boat in wood, the pattern was offered in a book that was copyright free.
I’ve been playing with this design in my head and I’ll have spent hours thinking of it before I sit in my favourite hooking chair to begin. The right green is key and I have whittled it down to two choices, Lime or Green with Envy, each will tell a different story and either will be marvelous but I have to make a decision between the two and soon. I’ve asked Shane to dye both for me in six value swatches so when I’m ready the wool will be available. I might have to do a eeny, meeny, miny, moe, it’s that close. I want the serpent to be luminous; to glow from its position on the stairs. I want it to steal the eye and hold the viewers gaze before perusing the others. Hopefully I can achieve this effect, especially when the Kraken is going to be a tight contender for attention. I’m not going crazy with detail, shading to the ninth degree, after all they are only carpets for the stairs, not museum quality pieces, so I’m working mostly in #5, not the detail oriented #3. I don’t have the time for that kind of fine cut business if I want them hooked this year. My goal is for maximum impact with minimum effort.
Now that there are almost seven finished, with seven more to go, I will have to start thinking about positions on the stairs. For now they are randomly placed with no particular thought to how they will be displayed and perhaps I’ll wait until they are all available to see which ones play best next to each other but I should be sewing on the Velcro as they are just laying up against the risers and beginning to curl and slump. That’s a lot of finish work at one time so I should address each one as I do them. I need to sew the folded edge of the burlap (yes I hooked them on burlap) down to the back of each rug, for the moment they are only steamed pressed to hold. I could use glue but that feels tacky, pardon the pun, I don’t want them gummed up with hard bits of melted goop. I’ll figure out a way to keep the work to a minimum, they say give a job to a lazy person and they’ll figure out a way to do a job faster and easier so I guess I’ll don my thinking cap. Any suggestions for an easy finish are appreciated.
Sorry about the poor quality pictures. They were taken with my cell phone at night.
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