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| The Home Page |
An Introduction To Rug Hooking |
Sandra Brown's Gallery of Rugs |
The Pittsburgh Rug Hooking Frame |
Resources, Supplies Books & Links |
Interesting Women & Other News |
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|
| The Home Page |
An Introduction To Rug Hooking |
Sandra Brown's Gallery of Rugs |
The Pittsburgh Rug Hooking Frame |
Resources, Supplies Books & Links |
Interesting Women & Other News |
Why rug hooking teachers and workshops? Even though some rug hookers are self-taught, our rate of improvement increases as we stretch ourselves into our gifts and into our craft. Workshops are an opportunity to study with teachers whose specialty areas are new to you and to receive individual instruction in a classroom setting. Typically the student is there to begin a new piece, and the combination of a gifted teacher and the presence of other rug hookers also exploring their creativity is vivifying—a gift of space for nourishing our creative energies.Want to arrange a workshop in your area? Workshops on any of the topics below or one that is custom planned for your hooking group can be arranged for as little as $30 per student per day plus travel, room and board (accommodations at private homes are preferred). Please contact me at pghframe@aol.com for further details.
For my current schedule of workshops and lectures, please find them listed here. For a list of my upcoming exhibitions, please click here.
Would you like us to include you on our mailing list? If you want to be notified about our rug-hooking workshops and lectures or upcoming exhibitions, please send an email to pghframe@aol.com. Please be assured that any information you send, including your email address, will never be shared with any third party. Period. There are no exceptions to our policy regarding this!
- Sandra Brown
| Proceed to Sandra Brown's Workshops | Proceed to Sandra Brown's Exibitions |
| Proceed to Other Topics Available for Rug Hooking Workshops & Lectures by Sandra Brown | |
My own philosophy of teaching has always been summed up in the phrase -"getting you the student to the place you want to go with your piece." It isn't my vision, it's yours, but technically, logistically, you may not know how to make it a reality, and my job is to get you there. All my workshops rely on this approach and are informed by the pieces I myself have hooked on the same themes.Arranging your own workshop can be as easy as locating a dozen fellow rug hookers who want to congregate in a place conducive to teaching and hooking, and contacting me for scheduling and topic ideas. As well as the workshop topics listed below, custom workshops are also available. Please contact me at pghframe@aol.com for further information.
Geometrics
Geometrics go well in any decor - traditional to modern - and represent a unique opportunity for individual creativity and color choice. We will explore, in-depth, the possible interpretations of any geometric pattern - primitive to contemporary - and the various color options to realize a unique, one of a kind rug that the grandchildren will be fighting over. Students will work on a new pattern of their choice, and spend time in class color planning, either with wools of their own or the large inventory (including rich gradation swatches) the teacher will have on hand. Cut can be anything from #3 to #9 and project can be anything from a small tote bag to a room size rug. There will be a slide show lecture on Geometrics and Nature Patterns during the class.Essentially my goal is to provide you with a systematic way of approaching any geometric - not just the one you're working on during this workshop. In addition to analyzing what patterns lurk beneath any given printed geometric, I would also like to spend some time on the first day showing the class how to design their own geometrics. If you have a pattern in mind already we can start right in with pattern analysis and move from there to color planning. If you're undecided about a pattern, then designing one could be a fun experience - the idea is to stretch our brains a little in ways that are ultimately very satisfying.
Wool Dyeing - Level One
Wool fabric, with its luxurious texture, has been a favorite of rug hookers for generations and it can be dyed to any color for any hooked rug design imaginable. Learn the dyeing of wool with ProChem and Cushing washfast acid dyes in a workshop where instead of taking notes you will participate in the custom dyeing of quality wool fabric.Classes are "hands-on" with each student mixing dyes to create and develop colors and dye formulas, then using those formulas to dye wool according to their own palette. All dye techniques, including 8 & 12 value gradation swatches, open pan, primitive (using recycled and textured wools), transcolor, transition, dip-dyeing, spot, marbleized, onion skin, sprayed dyeing for skies and stained glass are covered by the teacher but can be done by the student. Class will also include first steps to color matching and color planning a finished rug. Color theory will be covered, including the use of complements in hooking and dyeing.
You will go home knowing how to dye!! Each student leaves with at least one yard of mixed wools they have dyed themselves using all the various techniques.
Wool Dyeing - Level Two
Our second level dye workshop is a more applied version of the First Level Dye Class where students actually use the dyed wools in hooked pieces. The class also covers the more sophisticated dye secrets that add extra dimension to our craftwork.It begins with a recap of basic dye techniques (gradation swatches, open pan, transition and transcolor, overdyeing recycled wool, casserole, spot and stained glass dyeing) and moves quickly to exploring how to match colors and why certain dye techniques are recommended for a particular effect. Which dye technique is useful for primitives? For strap leaves or petals in florals? Pictorials (including skies)? And just when you thought 3 primaries plus black constituted a basic dye palette, we find out why, via the dye pot, 6 primaries are better. We will also explore color theory and play with matching student samples of hard-to-find wools. Finally, a primer on how to color plan your rugs will complete the three-day immersion in dyeing and color theory.
Houses at Dusk, Houses at Night
A class on pictorials using depictions of each student's own house to study lighting conditions that add drama to the finished piece. Skies at night, full moons, sunrises and sunsets will be explored and dye demonstrations will be included for those wishing to take these lessons on to other hooked pieces. The use of textures and values in pictorials will be covered, as well as the best wools for plants, trees and other greenery, water and reflections.Borders
How to design a border for either an original design or purchased pattern. What steps do we take to examine the possibilities and how do we transfer those ideas to create a border that enhances and completes the rug? Since (almost) every rug benefits from a finishing 'frame', the goal is to design the best possible border to carry the interior rug's message. Borders for both primitive and fine-cut rugs will be covered.Shaped Rugs and Dummy Boards
Sometimes the shape of our rugs needs to be the shape of the object itself. There's some tricky hooking and finishing involved, but it's a technique definitely worth the effort considering the final impact of having an irregularly shaped rug. Workshop also covers how to hook dummy board pieces, mounting and finishing so that the piece stands alone - hooked sculpture!Torn Wool Rugs - How Wide Can You Get
Before fancy cutters there were pioneer women tearing wool into strips to make hooked "mats". This old-fashioned way of hooking rugs is returning, not only because the hooking goes faster, but the softer edges of the wool tend to meld more, turning the over-sized (often 1" wide!) loops of textured and specialty-dyed fabric into a luxurious cushion of wool. More than any other cut of wool, this technique lets you see the wool itself, although balancing colors and textures is still an art.Stuck on Color?
This class addresses the problems of color choices that often accompany the "unfinished rug." What is the problem our color antenna are sensing and how do we find the solution? Color planning, concepts of color weight and value, and how to add impact to our rugs will be covered, with trips to the dye pot as necessary to create the perfect solution.Four Day Dye & Apply Rug Hooking Class
Each student receives instruction on their particular chosen piece - either an original design or a commercial pattern. In addition, the dyeing portion of the class, which will cover all the basic types of dyeing for rug hooking, will be directed toward examples and colors from each student's rug. If your project is irises, then the dye demonstration for your rug might be how to dip dye for strap leaves and what formulas you might consider choosing between.My Philosophy of Teaching
My aim is to give instruction while I am there to teach you, sharing with you as much as possible the techniques I have learned in over 22 years of rug hooking - stretching you to think in ways that will improve your work and FEED YOUR BRAIN! The pure joy of solving aesthetic "problems" or challenges in our rug hooking is often a function of what technical understanding we bring to the project - increase the understanding of technique, how color works, what dye processes are available to us, and the creativity begins to soar.
So'Journey Farm reminds us that our life is a journey of the soul toward wisdom and understanding, and that our place in the Universe also includes responsibilities of stewardship and love. It is a working farm using sustainable farming techniques - in this case, grass-fed beef (from our Scottish Highland cattle) and pastured poultry. The aim is to return the Earth in better condition than when it was lent to us. We'll have more information on-line soon about So'Journey Farm!
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