Category: Rugs

The increasing commercial importance of the Colonial rag rug or as it is usually called the rag rug, has somewhat interfered with its development from the handicrafters’ standpoint. It is being manufactured by commercial rug houses on a basis which defies all competition from the maker of rugs on a hand loom. There is usually […]

In developing these old-time methods many other problems in handicraft are suggested, though not actually worked out. For instance, by knowing how to stencil the burlap foundation in the chapter on the hooked rug, one can make all manner of at-tractive and useful couch covers, cushion covers, and curtains. The dye recipes may be used […]

The making of stencils would be an easy matter were it not for the difficulty of getting good and original designs, and in carrying them out through the medium of a heavy stencil paper. Because stencil paper is hard to cut, it is a serious handicap, and compels the craftsman to use commercial patterns or […]

The tufted counterpane of today like most modern handicraft is a Colonial survival and has a historical as well as an artistic interest. Some fine examples are to be found in the National Museum at Mt. Vernon, Virginia, which was formerly the home of George and Martha Washington. There the counterpanes still cover stately four […]

The most prosaic object is not below the scrutiny of the amateur and as nothing has escaped the discerning glance of the craftsman in the search of homely things to make beautiful, why not beautiful candles, forsooth? Most of us know little of old-time industries and nothing perhaps at all of old-time methods of lighting […]

The somewhat recent introduction of the Javanese and the Dutch method of wax-resist printing or batik-making is already proving a valuable addition to our established branches of handicraft and promises to become more important as it becomes more widely known. The word “batik” which is unusual and al-ways attracts some curiosity, comes from the Javanese […]

Few articles of home furnishing are more useful or decorative than a well-made and attractive rug, and among the interesting techniques which have been revived from the old-time crafts are numerous hand-made rugs. There are the braided rug, the scalloped rug, the knitted rug, the crocheted rug, the hooked rug, the needle-woven rug, and the […]

THE designs of Eastern rugs are often the spontaneous outcome of the fancy of the weaver. Sometimes they are handed down from one generation to another ; in some cases young girls are taught the design by an adult, who marks it in the sand ; at other times a drawing of the rug is […]

WHEN doing their best work, Oriental weavers use the softest of permanent dyes. The result obtained is in every case a thing of beauty and utility. The aniline dyes are, of course, not to be compared to the vegetable, although the best of them are not to be utterly condemned. The poorest aniline dye eats […]

AMONG Orientals a good deal of significance has attached, from the earliest days, to color. In Babylon scarlet was the symbol of fire, blue of air, and purple of water. Tyrian purple was an exquisite and rare shade of crimson. Many allusions are made to it by classical writers. The principal colors of the ancient […]