Tag: recycled t-shirts

May 5, 2020

Rug fraud and more narrowly averted!

The rug fraud started innocently enough in an email.

Good Morning,

Hooked rug — Item #1: The rug at the center of this story. Carnivale Zebra-Style.” Hooked with old t-shirts. 48.5″x11″ (it’s back in the **Etsy shop**.)

This is Emily Hill. I would like to follow up regarding the Zebra Style rug.. I was wondering do you know how much it would be? like the total amount. And is it ok to send check for payment? I would like to purchase this outside of etsy since I have an uncle who is paying for it and will mail out a Check asap for Payment.

The shipping address is 1135 Old Fritztown rd., Sinking Spring, PA 19608.. I will just need the total price with shipping, as well as to what name and a mailing address to send payment. Thank you

Emily Hill

I’ve done transactions off Etsy before. This one sounded like a young girl getting a graduation or birthday present from her uncle. Not really a problem.

Hi, Emily-

What a nice uncle you have. The $315 includes shipping and handling. Have him send the check to:
Laura Salamy
X St.
Albuquerque, NM 8####
As soon as the check clears (we’ll do it electronically), I’ll package it up and mail it off. I’ll also send you tracking info at that point.
Thanks for giving the piece a home. And stay safe!

Laura
Highonhooking.com

Emily was responsive, got back to me the next morning.

Awesome! It should be made out today.. I will let you know as soon as it’s sent and on the way and we will be in touch. Do you want to provide a phone number as well to reach you via text?

I provided her with my landline as, unlike my cell, it always rings in the house. And callers can leave a message. But it’s a pandemic. Where would we be but home? It all looks good, so I pull the rug from my shop. But not permanently.

Two days later Emily gets back to me. Apparently, her cousin was purchasing something too. Uncle got a little mixed up. He must be very generous. And distracted by his travel. During the aforementioned pandemic.

Good Morning,

I was just informed the check was made out to you. I would like to circle back regarding the rug.. and see when it would be here like how many days? I mean following receipt of payment. I am sure you understand since I have an uncle who is paying for it. Check was made out by my uncle and I have just been informed it will be a couple days to arrive.. There’s however a mix up here as it appears the check was accidentally overpaid for $950.. I understand the additional amount on the check would have been made out separately to my cousin for the other items that we are yet to order.

I hope you understand.. The good thing a check was made out and we should be able to get everything here on time. I believe we can take care of this if you will let me know as soon as you pick up the mail and I will email the address to send on the extra money when the check clears. Please let me know how you would like to handle things. Thank you

Emily Hill

Now, me, I’m not that generous. Wish I was, especially as this was a couple of days before Easter.

Sorry, Emily-

I don’t think this is going to work.

Laura

But Emily clearly wants that rug. And it is a really nice rug, if I do say so myself. Extra points for how polite she is. And she must be a good Christian girl. She remembers to wish me a Happy Easter not even knowing that I’m not Muslim or some other religion given my Arabic last name.

Good Morning,

Emily Hill

Oh, I understand.

Nonetheless, Emily persists. She wants the rug bad. She’s so excited to know when it’ll ship, that her grammar is slipping. And she forgot to sign her name.

Hi Laura was just making sure you got my messages referenced below explaining the overage check. I know we talked about it before, i just want to be sure you read the email again and do you know when the rug will ship? when it would be here so we can be on the look out for this. Please get back to me as soon as you can. Thanks

I feel for you, Emily. Anyone who wants one of my rugs that bad. Everyone should want my rugs that bad.

Can’t be sure, Emily, as some shipping has been disrupted, but another got hers in a few days from mailing.
Laura

That last bit was sent on Sunday, April 12. Easter! Maybe Emily was at church most of the day, one of those churches in Florida that opened. Oh, but wait! Emily’s first email said she was in Pennsylvania. Or at least that the rug should be mailed there. But later she mentioned that she’d email the address to me. Hey, it’s a pandemic; who can blame her for being a little scatter-brained?

I don’t hear from Emily for quite a while. And I don’t find a check in the mailbox. Damn, she must’ve found another rug on Etsy that she liked better. 🙁

Oh, me of little faith. Emily joyfully connects with me on April 20 regarding the check. But she has concerns.

Hi Laura,

Good News!! I have just been notified you will be getting the check via USPS today. They have it loaded on the vehicle for delivery.. I would think it should be coming today through the US postal service.. Please let me know as soon as as you get the envelope. I am beginning to worry about it. If you will just go ahead and deposit in the check funds to clear the bank. The funds are typically available the next day and we can get this all wrapped up then. Please let me know and we will be in touch. Thank you so much..

Hi, Emily, sure. I’ll watch for it. And as soon as I can access the funds, I’ll pack up the rug.

Stay healthy!

Laura

Hi Laura,

I was just following up with you to see if the funds has been deposited. Please let me know and we can get the necessary items here that we need. I also was wondering if you got those text messages from me?

Emily seems to be hyperventilating. As I mentioned above, I’m concerned about her health. And, unfortunately, I never received those texts as I’d provided her with my landline number. So sorry, Emily.

Indeed, that morning I did receive the check. Here it is.

Fraudulent check — Item #2: Rug fraud – check.

Looks good, no? But wait! Emily told me that it was written for $950. This check is for $1265.00. What’s a fiber artist to do?

I call Granite Credit Union in Utah, where the check was drawn. (Interestingly, it was mailed from Springfield. Oregon. This family really gets around.) After being put on hold several times, I get a real person…who tells me…the check is fraudulent.

Oh, Emily.

You know, “Emily,” the check doesn’t seem to be clearing. I think I’ll keep the rug.

You are horrible and a shameful person. Not going to happen.. We are stopping the payment. You will never steal from us. Shame on you.

Oh, “Emily.”

August 12, 2019

New items in our Etsy shop

Tynan (dog) with hooked rugs. — Tynan brings you our newest items. All will be loaded into our **Etsy shop** starting today. Address of the shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HighonHooking.

May 13, 2019

Fiber Crawl is this weekend!

Fiber Crawl post card

Fiber Crawl is happening this weekend. (We’ve mentioned it before.) If you’re in New Mexico anywhere from Albuquerque to points north and enjoy fibers – themselves, the animals they come from, and what you can do with them – get thee to the website and its map. High on Hooking and Cathy Kelly will be spending Saturday and Sunday at the Open Space Visitors’ Center on ABQ’s West Side (conveniently close to home!). Please stop by to see: 1) our wares and how we hook them and 2) the fiberific “Earth Threads” exhibit. The Visitors’ Center is no slouch itself; it’s a very cool place if you haven’t been there. We hope to see you!

Hooked rug to be offered at Fiber Crawl this weekend. — Lastly, is there anything more New Mexican than our chile? (This is a rhetorical question. Of course there is.) Come see the finished chile “off the frame” at the Open Space Visitors’ Center on Coors Boulevard Saturday and Sunday! (BTW, this one’s hooked using recycled t-shirts.)

March 11, 2019

See this recycled-t-shirt artist’s work now!

Who would’ve thunk that a t-shirt artist would be featured in a nearby gallery? Thanks to friend and guild-mate Nancy, I ~~thunk~~ thought it and was able to see the exhibit before it closes come March 23. Thanks so much, Nancy!

If you’re interested in fiber art at all and are near Santa Fe before March 23, I urge you to take an hour or so and head to form & concept, a gallery you can easily find on South Guadalupe Street in the Railyard District. Warning: You’re gonna love the gallery and will need more time.

The t-shirt artist in question is Nika Feldman. BTW, she not only considers herself to be a fiber artist, but a rag picker as well. Bless her heart; I know where she’s coming from. (Have you seen my rugs hooked out of recycled t-shirts? Bed sheets?) I had a great time looking at the various pieces, which are made of recycled t-shirts, pop tabs, and embroidery (which she’s very good at).

T-shirt art by Nika Feldman showing at Form and Concept in Santa Fe, NM. — Here is an example of one of Feldman’s t-shirt pieces: “Hooded Cape.” (Photo courtesy of form & concept Gallery.) Yes, it’s comprised of nothing but old t-shirts, pull tabs, and stitchery!

While Feldman calls t-shirts the most ubiquitous – and cheapest – universal clothing made by Western culture, and that’s true, I’m not sure that I agree with her that the shirts are always recognizable even when cut up and taken apart. I know that I regularly have to tell folks that many of my rugs are hooked from old t-shirts. And the disbelief that they mouth. Granted, my strips are looped; some of hers hang free. Still, given what Feldman does with hers… The embellishments, especially when one sees her prowess with a needle and thread, are fantastic.

I fully concur with her message and only wish that I could state what I’m trying to do with my own art so succinctly:

The message…she said, has to do with modern North America’s mass production systems.

“It’s disposability, it’s like how we can make life more convenient, and more convenient, and more convenient?” she said of the narratives that this continent’s clothing conveys. “It comes at an unsustainable cost to the Earth.”

-excerpted from Megan Bennett’s article “The language of clothing” in the Albuquerque Journal North

If you weren’t aware, the fashion industry is one of the world’s larger polluters. Here’s an interesting article on that.

Fast fashion that often falls apart – have you ever wondered why that trendy tank top developed a hole after only one wash? – is a big part of the fashion industry’s unsustainability. That and our culture’s fickle fashion sense are why Feldman and I can both find so many t-shirts to use in our artwork. Savers, Goodwill, friends and relatives can supply us with all we need.

The pieces in the exhibit are “garment-like” rather than actual garments. This, according to Feldman, allows us to look deeper at them and to see them as art rather than just wearable fashion to be purchased and then put on. (For how long?) Indeed, she spent time in the fashion industry earlier in her career(s). I find that an interesting idea especially since my own goal when hooking a rug with t-shirts and other recycled materials is that it also be usable – as a rug, a table runner, or what-have-you. Regardless, I very much enjoyed looking at Feldman’s art, and I encourage you to make a run to Santa Fe before it disappears.

The exhibit by Nike Feldman is called Spirits in the Material World. It’s at form & concept on South Guadalupe in Santa Fe till March 23.

PS: Since Taos: Contraction of Mass, Concision of Thought, by Lisa Klakulak, another exhibit going on at the gallery till April 22, is also terrific. You just have to see the piece called “Transplant”! (Which you can do by following the above link.)

“I was so into fiber, because of its comforting and protective qualities, but at the same time it is a medium associated with struggle and women’s work,” she says. “Then I got into the whole concept of felt, because it’s incredibly strong but it presents in this soft, vulnerable way.” The artist’s mastery of the medium and her emotional language-building express the deeply personal in a way that holds broader relevance to humanity, voicing ideas about growth, human connection and personhood.

– from form & concept’s website.

March 6, 2019

A quick hello

welsh springer spaniel with hooked rug. — Tynan here with a quick hello. She’s busy trying to finish the hooked monster, i.e., the **“Big Boucherouite,”** and prepping for her turn to host the monthly neighborhood **Bunco** party tomorrow. And, oh, yeah, my sister’s here from Colorado. But then again you always like it better when I host the blog, and we like to give the customers what they want.

Weather’s beautiful here in Albuquerque this week, even hitting the 70s. Condolences to those still victim to winter’s frigid temperatures. May spring come quickly to you. And if you’re in the ABQ area, remember that the Rio Grande Arts and Crafts Spring Show is this weekend! (Not that I get to go…)

Later!

Tynan