Yes, you CAN design a rug!

Study master artists and their styles, then apply their successes to your own rugs. [ILC Spotlight]( March 23, 2024 Join the Book Club and receive your copy of Design Like an Artist for 67% OFF . [Join the Rug Hooking Book Club](   [Join the Rug Hooking Book Club]( Credit: Oxen in Summer, hooked by Cathy Tennant MacDonald. Design Like an Artist: Using Inspiration from Your Favorite Artists for Rug Designs I set up Ribbon Candy Hooking on January 1, 2020, and immediately began assembling kits, recording instructional videos, and designing. Having always studied art and worked in the arts, I find designing intuitive, and fun. I realized, however, that it wasn’t intuitive for everyone, and some people wanted to tell their unique stories through rugmaking but were not confident about drawing and designing. My mind immediately flew to the history of the craft and stories of that trailblazing Mainer Edward Sands Frost. The living embodiment of Yankee ingenuity, Frost was a former Civil War soldier who was working as a tin peddler in the late 1860s. At that time, women were beginning to hook rugs from scraps in the true, thrifty spirit of the craft. From one home to the next, truly beautiful and eye-catching rugs sprang up like mushrooms from cold floorboards, and the unspoken competition was on. While some women were natural and instinctive artists who could grab a piece of charcoal from the hearth and sketch a cascading waterfall or capture the winsome expression of the family dog, others struggled to create something of beauty, something they would be proud of. Frost noticed the disparity in the success of the rug designs from one home to the next and realized he might be able to help. He began creating designs that he cut into zinc stencils. Being a tin peddler had its perks. He began making rounds with stencils that could help even the least artistic rugmaker create a rug that rang with perfect symmetry and visual balance. Remembering this classic story from the rug hooking canon, I realized it could be helpful to offer a design class for rug hookers that included paper stencils I hand-cut and sent through the mail, and a live class during which we traced out compositions that I already had in mind, using the stencils. After the Design Like Edward Sands Frost class, I decided to evolve the series into live workshops that featured a particular artist or style. The premise of the class was to identify the distinguishing aspects of the work and learn how to tap into their style by replicating motifs, colors, or whatever tricks or tropes that made their work both successful and recognizable. For the last few years, I’ve offered classes on a number of artists, both well-known and completely unknown, whose personal histories and bodies of work we study and investigate from a design point of view. This book is a collection of some of the classes I’ve done so far, and a loving look at some of my favorite artists whose little-known work deserves a 21st-century second glance. I hope you enjoy rediscovering old favorites and falling in love with new valentines. ~Deana David. [Join the Rug Hooking Book Club]( Join the Book Club and receive your very own copy of Design Like an Artist! Simply [sign up here](, and we will send you a discounted copy of our latest book, Design Like an Artist. As a new Book Club member, your first book includes an extra-special, one-time discount: you will receive $20 off the retail price... that's 67% off! Pay only $9.95 USD, plus shipping and handling. When Rug Hooking is ready to release the next new book, you will receive an email notification regarding the upcoming shipment. For your convenience, your order will auto-renew with the credit card you have on file for hassle-free payments. If you don't wish to receive that book, then just let us know by replying to the email notification, and we will not ship you the latest book, and your credit card will not be charged. Prices of books can vary, but are typically about $24.95 USD per book for Book Club members, plus shipping and handling. Please refer to your email notification prior to your credit card charge to determine the actual price. Typically, we release 4 books per year. You can cancel your Book Club membership at any time. With all of these benefits available, how could you not become a member of the Book Club?   Join the Book Club and receive your copy of Design Like an Artist for 67% OFF . [Join the Rug Hooking Book Club](  [Join the Rug Hooking Book Club]( P.S. - Design Like an Artist is our latest book! Deana David helps you create your own hooked masterpieces by describing the working styles of groundbreaking painters, illustrators, and collage artists and explaining how to adapt their methods for your own creative purposes. [Sign up today]( and receive your first book for $20 off the retail price... that's 67% off! Pay only $9.95 USD plus shipping and handling.  Best regards and for the love of rug hooking, [Mark Allison] Mark Allison Editor, Rug Hooking Magazine RBC995CWD  Join the Book Club and receive your copy of Design Like an Artist for 67% OFF . [Join the Rug Hooking Book Club](   2FM0EzgnXWPgtAUPbJ4MkkJPYi9T%2F8cf6%2BcD7p8%3D This email was requested by: {EMAIL} Unsubscribe from this newsletter: [Click here](2FM0EzgnXWPgtAUPbJ4MkkJPYi9T%2F8cf6%2BcD7p8%3D). Modify or Add Newsletters: [Click here](2FM0EzgnXWPgtAUPbJ4MkkJPYi9T%2F8cf6%2BcD7p8%3D). 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