Swedish Rag Rug
Instructor: Becky Ashenden
Prerequisites: none
Max enrollment: 8
Course fee: $450 (includes all instruction and studio time, course handouts, lunch Wed–Fri)
Materials fee: $98
Room & board: $225 (includes lodging Tue–Thu evenings, breakfast Wed–Fri, dinner Wed–Thu)
For more detail: See also costs & logistics, food & accommodations
Days offered: Three-day session, Wednesday–Friday
Schedule: 2013 Studio open 8:00 am – 8:00 pm, instruction time 9 am – 7 pm (except last day of class, which ends at 5 pm)
Dates offered: (2013)
Jun 12–14 (class full; waiting list only),
Jun 19–21 (class full; waiting list only)
No home in Sweden would be complete without rag rugs. In this three-day session you will make a Swedish style rag rug from start to finish. We'll spend Day 1 designing a rug and dressing a loom with our Swedish cotton rug warp, which is an important feature of these high-quality and long-lasting rugs. The pre-cut cotton rags will be doubled in the weft, which pack down hard and make a firm rug. Utilizing two rags together also allows for many creative design possibilities including shading and blending colors.
On Day 2 we will start out weaving a proper header and learn to manipulate and splice the rags. Students will have the choice of plain weave, basket weave, or twill. Techniques to be covered throughout the session will be clasped weft, slarvtjäll (an inlay technique), and chevron. We will not neglect our selvedges, as you will learn the tricks for making them strong and crisp.
On Day 3 we'll leave time to finish weaving your rug, as well as making the sturdy twisted fringe.
