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Friday, March 25, 2016

Getting the rug stuff

That's how early in the morning it was.
I said "rug stuff." For shame.

By the dawn's early light we are off to buy weft for Linda to weave more rugs.
She weaves rugs from many different fibers: wool and cotton fabrics, heavy yarns,
and something called "shag."


"Shag" comes from upholstery mills.
It is the selvage edge of upholstery fabric.

In the modern high tech mills the warp no longer travels across the weaving surface on a shuttle.
The warp is laid in one row at a time by a stream of air.

Each row is held stable by a woven band of dummy warp or loom waste that is cut off at the end of the weaving process.

The black and white strip is a good illustration of the stabilizing strip with the shaggy ends of the single lines of warp hanging from each side.


Here are bags and bags of shag,


Waiting to be selected.


I realize I do not have one picture of Linda at a rug loom.
Here is a picture from the '90's, when I stopped by her studio in upstate New York to see her new 100" loom being assembled.

In the left corner one of her rug looms with the beam full of rugs, and the weaving surface used as a table for tools to assemble the big loom.

(Do note how very 5'6" tall I used to be!)


I went to Linda's web site and picked one rug.
You can go there and see a page full of rugs for sale.


20 comments:

  1. Hari om
    My but that's a swag of shag to pick from! Lovely rugs... YAM xx

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  2. I'm afraid I don't understand very much of this.

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  3. Oh my. She does beautiful, beautiful work. But you know that. I fell in lust several times as I browsed.
    I hope your early start was as excellent a day as it sounds...

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  4. Well, I never heard of such a thing. Very interesting and also, I've lost an inch and a half somewhere.

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  5. Your friend does beautiful work. Love those days shopping with a friend.

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  6. Joanne, my trooper friend who spend 12 hours with me yesterday in the worst rain we may have seen in our careers. Some were terrible and some where worse than that. This was a hummer but kept going we did and car had nearly 400 lbs of shag. Probably another trip in October if I can get these made and sold. With my current "attitude", I can get them made-it's all about selling them. This trip has become a sort of pilgrimage for us. It always includes lunch at Bob Evans and only making a couple of directional errors which we correct pretty easily.That is how we roll.

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  7. 5'6"? I used to insist I was 5'4". Last physical, I discovered I am really 5'3" now. Gravity.

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  8. Sigh... I'm only 5 ft 2 1/2". You're still very tall. Love the earthy tones of the rugs.

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  9. Such great work she does with the rugs! I'm thinking it was a good day for you and Linda!

    betty

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  10. My brain has scrambled trying to understand your explanations of rug weaving. Wow.

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  11. What a fascinating description of weaving! I haven't a clue! And such nice looking rugs to boot!

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  12. I had a look at Linda's rugs, they're very nice.
    Thank you for explaining 'shag'

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  13. They look so pretty and I love the colour schemes.

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  14. Five two years ago, who know now, the rugs are wonderful, love the multi colored ones

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  15. You are taller than me, that's for sure.
    Thanks for the interesting photos.

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  16. reminds me of going to the woolen mill last summer.

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  17. Reminds me how bad my English is. I only knew one version of "shag" :-) Next time I will impress with my new knowledge.

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    1. Tears are running down my face. Thank you; I needed that. I think Donald Trump may have white shag carpets wall to wall in his penthouse. Otherwise, they are out as carpeting, but very popular as Linda's rugs.

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