THE CRAFTS 
WOOD CARVING AND PYROGRAPHY. LEATHER AND METAL. BASKETRY, ETC. 
Under the management of Miss Emily Peacock, Karol Shop, 22 East i6th St., New York. All inqitiries in regard to the various 
Crafts are to be sent to the above address, but tuill be answered in the magazine under this head. 
All questions 7nust be received before the 10th day of month preceding issue and will be answered under -'Answers to Inquiries" only. Please do not send stamped 
envelope for replay. The editors will ansiver questions only in these columns. 
RUG MAKING AT HOME 
Helen R. Albee 
AMONG the various crafts that are open to art students 
none is more promising or profitable than rug-making. 
The hooked rug commends itself particularly, because it 
requires no elaborate or expensive equipment — only a 
simple adjustable frame, that can be procured for a dollar, 
and can be set away in a corner when not in use. In my 
own industry I have worked out a frame which consists of 
four pieces of soft wood, two of which are two inches wide, 
one inch thick and four feet long, with a row of half- inch 
auger holes bored about three inches apart down the middle 
of the ends. The other two are cross-pieces sixteen inches 
long with a fixed peg set in about one inch from the end. 
These pegs should slip easily into the holes of the other 
pieces, thus making a rectangular frame. To keep the frame 
well squared a piece twelve inches long is nailed on each 
of these cross-pieces and fitted so as to come flush against 
the lengthwise pieces when the frame is put together. A 
A FRAME AND ITS SEPARATE PARTS 
wooden button is secured on the top braces, so that it can 
be turned over the pegs, thus holding them securely in the 
holes. With this simple construction one can make a small 
chair seat or a rug five feet wide and of indefinite length. 
When in use, one end of the frame can rest on a window 
sill, the other on a table or any firm support of suitable 
height. The worker sits in an easy position directly in front 
of the portion she is hooking, and shifts her chair along as 
the work advances from right to left. 
The only tool required is a hook, which can be made of a 
forty-penny wire nail (about a quarter of an inch thick) 
filed and smoothed into a barbed end and curved slightly. 
The shaping of the barb is very important; for, if too small, 
it will not catch the strip of cloth readily; and if too large 
it will injure the burlap as it is thrust through. When 
finished the hook should not be over two and a quarter 
inches long, the handle two and a half inches. Such a 
hook can be got for fifty cents. A pair of stout shears 
eight and a half inches long are necessary for cutting the 
strips and shearing the surface of the rug.; A good pair 
costs from sixty-five to eighty-five cents. A small tack 
hammer and a paper of 6 oz. tinned carpet tacks complete 
the actual equipment. 
RUG HOOK, ABOUT HALF SIZE 
It has been thought that any sort of cotton or wool 
material was good enough for a hooked rug, and it is for 
this reason that it has been the synonym for all that was 
crude and inartistic. After experimenting with many 
materials I have found that a perfect texture is obtained 
only from a pure wool unbleached twilled flannel of three 
and a quarter to three and a half ounces weight to the yard. 
It must be cold pressed and not submitted to the sulphur 
process. As this material is not procurable in the regular 
market, I have mine made in large quantity to meet m)' 
special requirements, and can supply it to those unable to 
procure it. This grade, when worked, makes a smooth, 
velvety texture that improves with wear and does not show 
the looped surface which has been such a blemish in rugs 
made from ordinary dress good. A straight weave will not 
do, for it is in the slight ravelling of the twilled strip that 
the fine texture and bloom are obtained. 
I recommend all craft workers to do their own dyeing. 
It is an art and not to be mastered at once, but it gives a 
free scope to a worker, for he can produce color effects not 
possible under any other conditions. 
There is a feeling in some quarters that a hand-made 
article is not artistic nor honestly made unless every pro- 
cess is according to old, sometimes forgotten, methods. 
KETTLE AND OTHER DYEING MATERIALS 
