Cilla Cameron has been rug making for over 30 years, teaching and exhibiting her work in her Nottinghamshire Studio and throughout the Uk, Canada, America and Australia. Cilla holds an Adult Education Teaching Certificate and is an Oxford Certified Punch Needle teacher.
There are two Traditional methods of rug making prodding and hooking each quite different in texture and technique. It is fun to produce rich designs and at the same time help the environment by recycling material and keeping this old craft alive.
Cilla holds the largest range of rug making supplies in the Uk suitable for the beginner through to the experienced rug maker.
TIP
When you start a new rug and gather your materials and only cut up a few strips at a time. This is to make sure the colour is suitable for the area you are hooking and the width of the strip is correct too. Sometimes you have to cut strips narrower to fit the area you are hooking.
Cutting piles of material in one go can be a time waster if it isn't suitable. Also it is good to get up to cut more so you don't get too stiff with sitting
This is a very large office notice board that I have in my studio where I can display smaller pieces of my work. It is very useful as a teaching aid as I can display pieces suitable for the workshop I am teaching.
Proddy Video's
Proddy with a prodder working from the back
Proddy with a Spring Hook working on the front
PLANNING YOUR NEXT RUG
The 5 Ps of Success
Proper
Planning
Prevents
Poor
Performance
Whats on my frame at the moment!
Neutrals from a Deanne fitzpatrick Online course
28"x58" drawn on Linen
The sheep were taken from a very small drawing I did in one of my note books. I am hooking mostly with recycled wool skirts and jumpers plus wool yarn. The whole rug will be hooked with neutral colours.
Finished Daisies in the Frame
Only the design has been punched
Daisies
I have drawn some small pieces out on a piece of Monks Cloth. So not to waste any MC I have drawn enough patterns to fill the foundation. This is one way to be economical with the foundation. Here are the finished pieces
Mug Rug hooking with hand dyed hosiery
Cilla's projects
All these projects were designed by Cilla
Cushion
Hooked with hand dyed yarn and material on hessian pattern available in my shop
Punched Table Mat
18"x25"
I cut the material about 3/16 wide and punched with a #9 Regular Oxford Needle on Monks cloth
Red Glow
8''x8''
Hooked with a mixture of Yarn and on a frame
Proddy Wall Hanging
8"x8"
Landscape
Prodded with a selection of pieces already cut and left over from other proddy projects. Framed
prodded on Hessian
Wall Hanging
8"x8"
Summer Time
Hooked with Hand dyed yarn and material. The design is from a photograph I took
On hessian and Framed
Punched Hare in a Summer Meadow
16"x24"
Punched with a #10 fine Oxford Punch Needle
using as is and hand dyed chunky yarn
I have made Draught Excluders to keep the winter chills out pattern is in my Numonday shop
Sheep Postcard Kits in my Numonday Shop
Doormat but I decided it was too nice to put in the door way so it is hanging on the wall at present
What do I stock?
Hessian
for Hooking and Prodding
Rug Studio Monks Cloth
for Punch Needle Hooking and Rug Hooking
Linen
for Hooking Prodding and Punch Hooking
I love this Linen it is a beautiful colour for working a design and leaving the background
A selection of Rug Hooks for Hooking Rugs several sizes
Hooks for Hooking
There is a hook for every requirement her from Hooking with yarn and fine cut material to thicker yarns and wider cut material
Spring Hook for Proddy
Prodders for Proddy
Hand Dyed Wool Material
for hooking, prodding and punch hooking
Hand Dyed Yarn
for Punch Hooking and Rug Hooking includes Chunky and Yarn Roving this is fabulous to punch and hook with
Rug Hooking Frames
The new frames are suitable for Hooking and Punching and are now back in stock
Octagonal Frame is the most popular frame. Once you have put your foundation on the frame it rotates to the left or right and right the way round.. plus it folds down for travelling. Now in stock
Hookers Hoop
Hoops are suitable for hooking and also a great size for making round Proddy seat pads. They are 14". Lightweight and easy for travelling.
Punch Hooking Frames
Pin gripper and gripper
Full range of Oxford Punch Needles Fine, Regular, boxed and unboxed
Patterns
For Hooking Punching and Proddy
Finished piece and now a cushion
Punched with #9 Oxford Punch Needle using a selection of yarn dyed and as is
Patterns
Patterns on hand dyed wool material or Punch Needle and Fine Hooking
The finished piece Punched with DK yarn with a #14 Oxford Punch Needle
Ideas/Colours/Shapes
Make ideas and colour books
Take photographs for inspiration
Making colour pages really helps you to see how many different
reds, greens, blues, yellow etc there are.
Here are some of my colour pages they are also an inspiration
for your designs.
The photographs of trees offer lots of different shape ideas
Backgrounds
There are a lot of ideas for background shapes and colour. Every rug is an individual and backgrounds can be colour planned from the start and other backgrounds just develop as they go.
A calm background can be worked in straight lines or soft colours. For more energy lots of shapes with light, medium and dark colour values.
You can draw different shapes onto your background
S - shapes on the diagonal and sideways too.
S’s make good seas. Waves and frothy white caps
O - circles in different sizes outlined and filled with lots of
colour or filled in with the same colour
Triangles, Ovals, Squares,
worm shapes long and short,
crosses, long and short swirls.
Look for shapes that appeal to you and try them out. First of all draw the shapes onto a piece of paper then when you are happy with your idea transfer it to your design.
Study artist’s work and be inspired
Postcards
Post cards make ideal small gifts. They hook up quickly and it is easy to attach a cord or hanger to hang on the wall. Why not hook a sequence of three (Triptych)
Triptych is a piece of artwork divided into three sections to be displayed together. It can be one picture hooked in three separate sections or exactly the same pattern hooked in different colour ways. The picture can be abstract, land or sea scape, animals in fact any design that you are attracted to.
To see more google Triptych images they are very inspiring.
You can buy Artist stretcher canvas (frame with white artist canvas stapled on) you can paint the canvas to any colour then stick your pieces onto the canvas makes hanging very easy.
It is interesting to see how much you can actually hook on a 6”x4’ post card.
Use any foundation but make it big enough to sit on your frame trying to hook tiny pieces is frustrating. You may want to draw out more than one design on your foundation.
Perfect present for the person who has everything!
Hooking Strips
*A 12” long strip of material will shrink down to about 3” long when hooked.
*One Yard of material will hook an area about 15”x23”
*The above suggestions depend on how high you pull your loops in regular work you would pull your loops as high as the width you are hooking with. Eg ¼” wide hook a ¼” high. If you are mixing different widths in your rug you would hook them all as high as the widest. Eg if your widest is ½” all of your loops would be hooked that high otherwise your rug would be very uneven.
2023 Workshops
at
The Rug Studio Oxton Nottinghamshire
To book go to
Dye Workshop dates to be confirmed
Come and hop into the pots for some fun dyeing up jewel like colours. Learn different dye techniques for exciting results. All dyes and materials provided for the day. Suitable for all levels £69
Sheep Postcard 2023 Dates to be confirmed
This is a fun workshop making a postcard size hanging. Applique, hooking and/or Punching. The Sheep label is appliquéd onto the foundation and the background is hooked or punched. All materials are provided for this workshop. Suitable for any level including beginners £68 per person
Punch Needle Workshop
September 23rd 2023
Punch a small piece as a table mat or hanging. The class is suitable for anyone including complete beginners.
Hooky and Proddy Workshop
March 18th 2023
Learn the Traditional rug techniques of Hooking and Prodding. You can choose a ready drawn pattern or design your own.
To book a place and for more details go to
TASTER SESSION
April 19th
Taster sessions give you the opportunity to try different techniques using a variety of materials.
In the workshop you can try Hooking, Proddy and Punch Needle.
Make a sample piece and mount on a frame or make a Hooky and Proddy coaster.
Punch a coaster or a sample piece.
If you would like to come to a workshop and the dates are not suitable for you please contact me so we can arrange a convenient date.
Reeth Rug Retreat
September 13th to 15th 2023
Full ..now on Reserve list
The brochure and bookings will be open early January 2023 for a brochure email priscillacameron1@googlemail.com. The school is based in Reeth North Yorkshire. There are a choice of 2 classes with plenty of time to rug maker and pop out for a wander around Reeth.
AND FINALLY
This was written around 2005 ish!
Cilla Cameron works from her Nottinghamshire base The Rug Studio, where she makes rugs, teaches workshops and runs her mail order business selling rugs, and a full range of rug making equipment (e.g. rug hooks, hessian, frames, kits, patterns etc). These are all suitable for beginners to experienced rug makers.
She also teaches rug making throughout the UK, Canada, America and Australia. Some of the groups she works with include people with special needs, school children and mental health patients.
She writes and edits The Rugmaker magazine and is a member of the editorial board of Rug Hooking Magazine.
“It all started when my friend and I were invited to a one day workshop over 20 years ago, I had no idea how rugs were made and the thought of using Recycled Material to create a rug for the floor seemed worth trying.
At the workshop I drew out some big primitive flowers and soon got to work I just loved the technique and within a few weeks my first rug was on the floor!
The first rugs I made were hooked rugs made with recycled woollen sweaters, coats, skirts and any woollen material I could find – then I moved on to making proddy mats. Their designs are more primitive than hooked rugs.
Over the years my style has developed. Having studied in America and Canada, my mind had been opened up to new ideas.
Rug Materials
I use recycled and new woollen material and redundant nylon hose. I am a dyer too so the material usually hits the dye pot to open up a wider palette to work from.
Hooked rugs are made on hessian foundation the material is cut into long strips and pulled through the backing with a special hook.
Proddy mats are also made on a hessian foundation using short pieces of material that are either poked through the backing or pulled this gives a shaggy pile.
Flooring for the Home
I do make a few commissions for customers. The last one I made was a pretty old fashioned-style proddy mat, made with a range of greens, golds and cream materials.
But I also have lots of rugs around my own home – in every room, in fact! I have an 8ft 6ins long, by 2ft 62 wide runner in the dining room that is very colourful.
The pattern I designed has many star shapes over the rug in all sizes. The stars range from purple, blue and pink to lime green, on a turquoise background.
Different Rooms
All rooms (even the smallest rooms) make great settings for these traditional rugs, whether they are pictorial, geometric, floral or fun designs. The techniques are suitable for every room and the colours and design can blend in with any theme.
For example, a kitchen with a lovely old range looks fabulous with a proddy mat with a sheep or rooster pattern and a bathroom with boats, mermaid or fish design. Modern, minimalist rooms lend themselves to modern geometric patterns.
Can Anyone do it?
Rug Making techniques are really quite easy (years ago before the fitted carpet many families made rugs for their bare floors).
The most difficult thing for anyone who wants to start making rugs is finding the equipment, the hooks, hessian and frames. I get calls from people who have been looking for years and are relieved to find I stock the equipment.
Anyone can make rugs if the interest is there. Tips would be to always use a good quality hessian backing and to draw a pattern on to your hessian.
This is much more exciting than having a blank canvas. If you can’t draw, then use templates, and wash all material before working it into your rug.”
Cilla Cameron.
Cilla Cameron Rug Maker
The Rug Studio
18 Elmcroft
Oxton
Nottingham NG25 0SB
Tel 0775 277 2474
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