Home » Albuquerque fiber arts » Page 11

Category: Albuquerque fiber arts

Why do we sell?

 

Why sell the mug and rug?
The hot, hot, hot of summer’s giving way to the heat of roasted chiles and sunflowers. Fall’s coming. Are you ready?

It’s September, the time that many of us consider the real New Year. You know, when you get back on a more regular schedule, stop drinking (as many) margaritas, and think more serious thoughts, like am I freaking crazy trying to sell hooked rugs in this day and age? I mean, most people that show up at my booth don’t even know what the hell they’re looking at. Is that weaving? (We are in New Mexico.) Hey, I did that in the 70s… And rugs aren’t usually the cheapest item up for sale at the fair or market or wherever they’re being sold.

My summer sale season started out very well. Sold a big rug right out of the gate. First weekend at the Rail Yards was good too. Then there were a few weeks of…nothing. Didn’t happen that way last year. Fortunately, it’s picked up lately, and finally going the Instagram way has helped too. One of my rugs will soon be winging its way north to Washington all because someone saw a pic and looked up my website. Woohoo! Actually, I like Instagram. Lots of pretty pictures and little typing.

 

Sold rug!
“New Mexican Sun” (8″x8″; wool, alpaca, recycled clothing, ribbon, sari) will soon be on its way to Washington state.

So, why do we do it? Why do some of us try to sell our hooked rugs? In my case, the rugs were building up. They cost money to make, so I thought why not try to recoup some costs. To actually make money would be gravy. Of course, if one takes into account the TIME it takes to make a rug, I’m actually paying to make the damn things. But that’s okay. That’s the point, in fact. Whether I sell them or not, I’ll make them because hooking is a passion. And I really like making all kinds of rugs – even mug rugs – especially when I can switch it up all the time. One week it’ll be mug rugs, the next some larger, arsty-fartsy thing. It’s about the creativity.

Okay, and rug hooking lets me watch my television shows without falling asleep in my chair.

The reality is that I like hanging at art shows and markets. If I wasn’t a vendor, I’d be there buying things. At least manning the booth keeps my Visa bill down. Even better, I get to chat up all kinds of folks and spread the gospel of fiber arts. Sure, if I’m having a tough day and folks just aren’t stopping by, there’s a snarky inner monologue that starts going through my brain, but at least I have a purpose. And, hey, I feel just like all the other artists there.

And to that effect, for anyone who’s going to be in the Albuquerque general area (you know, within a couple hundred miles), besides my final two Sundays at the Rail Yards (September 24 and October 15), I’ve been accepted into three other fall shows.

  • Saturday, September 23 – Mama’s Minerals 12th Annual Arts and Crafts Show
    Did this one last year with friend and guildmate Cathy Kelly. Glad they moved it to the fall (from August). Lots of vendors and a big crowd are guaranteed. Albuquerque.
  • Sunday, October 1 – OffCenter Folk Art Festival
    Have shopped this one and really enjoyed it. Especially the giant puppet parade! (You’ll have to come see it yourself.) Robinson Park in Albuquerque.
  • Friday, November 16 – Sunday, November 18 – Fall Fiber Fiesta, 2017
    This is the one that I’m really quite proud to have been juried into. Sure, I’ve taught a class at EVFAC, which organizes the show, but you never know what with all the fab fiber artists who live in the area. It’s a big show, and it takes place in Santa Fe at the Scottish Rite Temple. Friday evening is a meet and greet with the artists; the show-proper runs Saturday and Sunday. Not sure how I’ll handle the commute yet, but that’s a question for another day.

    Dog with another rug to sell.
    Tynan presents “What’s on the frame” today. I can’t help but feel the season – even when it’s 90+ degrees in the desert. The leaves are already turning in the Bosque! Anyway, this is a double mug rug. The mugs have tree forms on them. That’s all. Why not a landscape rug hooked with all kinds of fibers? The trees are Ultrasuede!

 

 

 

 

Tell us, if you’re a hooked rug vendor (the rugs, not the raw materials), why do you pop a tent and try to sell your wares?

Save

Share

Damn, you found me…spreading the gospel…of hooking

CHeryl Bollenbach's workshop where she shared the gospel of hooking.
Me presenting my piece at the end of our workshop with Cheryl Bollenbach. Those with sharp eyes and a Rug Hooking Magazine subscription will recognize the pattern I used. Thank you for sharing this with the hooking world, Brigitte Webb! I hope to do it justice.

 

It’s been almost a month, and I’m a day or two late, but I had to come back sometime. Not going to apologize for loving time off from the blog, but logging into WordPress for the first time in weeks, I realize how much updating I have to do on the entire freakin’ site. Along with some other electronic “toilette.” Sigh. Work is never done.

Note, I may not have been blogging, but I have been hooking. That is rarely a chore. Oh, maybe it is for those of you who whip-stitch. Yeah, I hardly ever do that crap.

What have I been doing? Funny you should ask.

 

  • May started with a bang. The Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG) invited Cheryl Bollenbach back to conduct a three-day workshop. As usual we learned a lot and bought even more…wool. My project was unusual, though only for me. It’s very…traditional. I’m working with wool strips – no t-shirts! I’m trying out linen for the first time. And see in the picture – no rug binding sewn on before hooking commenced. Don’t get too excited. There will be no whip-stitching. I’ll have it framed when I’m done. A girl can only go so traditional. Grimace
AWAG's booth at Fiesta 2017 where we share the gospel of rug hooking.
A view of our guild booth at Fiber Arts Fiesta.
  • Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta went down May 19-21. Of course, there was A LOT of work to be done before that. AWAG ran a successful booth. We had many visitors and several ladies who signed up for more information. In fact, I just gave a lesson this week to one of them. Ah, to spread the gospel of hooking. Below is a montage of pics taken by Melinda’s husband Gary of Gary Lamott Photography. Enjoy! And thank you again, Gary!!!
  • https://garylamott.smugmug.com/Fiber-Arts-517/n-phKqGb/#
  • Albuquerque's Rail Yards Market where we share the gospel of hooking.
    Our “shop” at the Rail Yards is open. Here we share the gospel of hooking with folks who have never seen the art form. Others tell me tales of parents and grandparents who hooked. Come on down! Great fruits and veggies, plus arts, music, and yummy food.

    High on Hooking started our selling season at Albuquerque’s Rail Yards. Despite it being Memorial Day weekend (holidays are notorious for slow sales) and thanks to a woman visiting from Las Cruces who loves textiles, we had a good day. Come visit; we’re there every other weekend till mid-October.

 

  • Sadly, those of us from AWAG who do demos at the Biopark’s Botanical Garden gave our last spiel till August. We had over a hundred kids in talking about what we do and trying their little hands at hooking. The park kicks us out for two months to use the Heritage farmhouse for summer camp programs. I guess it’s a good enough reason. In the meantime, in addition to our guild meetings, we’re meeting at members’ homes because we refuse to give up that whole social thing.

 

  • Finally had the chance to do all the planting and potting that I’d been putting off till after Fiesta. Now I’m just waiting for my first crop of basil. I make A LOT of pesto to freeze for winter, but there’s nothing that says summer’s arrived like the aroma of basil.

    Summertime and the living is easy. If you have a floatie. And a big rubber duckie.

 

  • And the pool’s up! I’ve even had a chance to chill in it on my floatie. Which pretty much takes up most of the pool when you add in my bulk-ritude. It is only 10 feet in diameter. But it works, especially for the hot flashes.

 

Then there were visits from family members back east. And this and that. You know, the usual life “stuff.” You remember John Lennon saying how life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. (Actually, any number of people may have said that. You can read all about that here.) Actually, I’m already planning another week off from the blog in a few weeks when Tom and I and the dog motor up to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, for some R&R (read: hiking and hanging on the patio with a beverage or three and a book or five).

 

What are your plans this summer? Do they involve hooking or other kinds of fun? Some form of escape? Travel? Getting together with friends? Share what you’re up to and make me jealous!

 

Sharing the gospel of hooking with a winning rug.
Congratulations, Melinda Lamott on receiving the Peoples’ Choice Award for rug hooking at Fiesta 2017!
Share

Where’s High on Hooking today?

Woman demonstrating rug hooking.
Mary Ramsey, AWAG president, indoctrinating, I mean, sharing rug hooking, specifically her “Chicken Cha,” with visitors to Heritage Farm in Albuquerque’s Botanic Garden.

 

Where’s High on Hooking? Like Waldo we could be almost anywhere. Though yesterday we were with other members of the Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG) at Albuquerque’s BioPark for our twice monthly demo gig. After last week’s news, though, we really could be almost anywhere.in the coming months.

 

 

Poster advertising Albuquerque's Recycled Art Fair 2017.

 

Like Lauren at Rugs and Pugs, last week was spent suffering through all kinds of nasty sinus issues and such. And we’re still on the mend! But life looked a hell of a lot better when one day’s email brought news of High on Hooking being juried into Albuquerque’s 8th Annual Recycled Art Fair. That’s the last weekend of April and conveniently located only a couple of miles down the road from my house at the Open Space Visitor Center. Besides vendors, there will be food, live music, and all kinds of good stuff.

Another email finally green-lighted me into this year’s Rail Yard’s Market downtown. Woohoo! I loved doing the market last year: tasty food, music, fabulous people-watching, and the chance to spread the gospel of rug hooking to new believers.

The first two Saturdays in April, we’ll be north of Santa Fe, up in Española at the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center teaching a beginners’ class using up-cycled t-shirts. Should be a fun time.

There are other irons in the fire. AWAG’s got Cheryl Bollenbach motoring down from Colorado to teach another class in early May. Fiber Arts Fiesta comes up a couple of weeks later. Lots of work going on with that! (It being my first Fiesta ever – having moved here only a year and a half ago – I feel like I’m about to be hit by a beautiful and handmade freight train. A freight train nonetheless.) Oh, we’ve got company coming twice! in May before Fiesta starts.

Life’s busy and that’s a really good thing. I mean, who wants to be bored? Not me. I can play “Where’s High on Hooking” all year long.

Keeping busy: This is a problem that you’re glad to have.
–American actor Michael Winslow

Dog on hooked rug.
Tynan presents this week’s “Current Rug.” Actually, there are three on the frame, all mug rugs as we get ready for the 2017 selling season. No, he’s not particularly interested in the mats; Tom was in the kitchen making “food” sounds. That was soooo much more compelling.

Save

Share

Still hooking, hooking, hooking away…

 

Been hooking, hooking, hooking all week…

Finished hooking one of the rugs to be entered into the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta…

Dog - rug hooking
Tynan’s portrait done in up-cycled t-shirt. My thanks to Cheryl Bollenbach of Colorado. I never would’ve been able to hook this rug without her help.

Still have a little ways – truly just a little – to go on the traditional floral, blue rug done in old t-shirts. Hooking to be done by tomorrow.

Dog - rug hooking
Tynan presents this week’s view of the current rug (photographed yesterday). Made a lot of progress on it today, actually, at my guild’s demo day at the Albuquerque BioPark.

 

Alternative fibers rug hooking
“Portals to Africa’ (AKA the “Surfboard Rug” by its new owner; done in up-cycled bedsheets) will also be entered into our Fiber Arts Fiesta to be held May 19-21. Calls for entry are due March 1.

 

Tomorrow’s the day all entries are due. Can do it online; just go to Fiesta’s website. If sending via snail mail, just make sure it’s postmarked by March 1.

Can’t wait to see you at Fiesta, May 19-21!

Share