This month, the Yarra Valley Rug Makers are show-casing some wonderful rugs from a very talented Rug Hooker
from the United States, who has been hooking for only six years.
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| Dana at Sauder Village with her rug entitled, "The Guardian" |
Dana says;
"My Grandmother
was a painter and has encouraged me throughout my life. I've always been drawn
to landscapes and portraits. I continued to focus on that throughout high
school and college. However, instead of pursuing a career in the arts, I married and
raised a family. As my family grew I continued to take classes in pastel
painting etc... but I met my rug Hooking teacher Loretta Scena just when I
needed her most. My children were grown and didn't need me as much. I was a
little lost. Loretta and rug Hooking brought art back into my life. I fell in
love with the wool immediately. There's just something magical about
manipulating wool. I am so pleased to be a part of the rug Hooking
community."
Dana is in the process of having some of her work
documented in a book that will contain these and other of her beautiful rugs.
We, of the Yarra Valley Rug makers and you, our readers are privileged to share
in some of her work. I hope you like what you see.
Please like and comment to encourage Dana with her rug hooking endeavours.
I asked Dana if she had any special thoughts on her
rugs that she would like to share with us, as well as some of the thing she
learned from hooking each rug. The following are her rugs and her comments.
The Guardian
35:
x 47”
Designed
and hooked by Dana Psoinas
#2,
#3, and #4 cut, hand-dyed wool, on a linen backing.
Hand-Dyed
wool
The
Guardian is a mystical interpretation from the fairy tale, Red Riding Hood, but
unlike the fairy tale, Dana wanted Red Riding Hood and the wolf to be companions.
Dana
says, “Her face was the easiest for me. Her hair the most fun. The cape was so
much harder than I thought it would be. I have a red chenille blanket and I had my daughter, myself, my
son’s girlfriend model for me. I love the idea of hooking a story. This rug
changed and evolved as it went. As it's not real, it was a challenge and a
freedom of imagination.
 |
| background colors |
The
birches were cool. I learned that a birch is a birch no matter where. WHY did I
have to make so many in my design? Thank you Michele M for your fabulous hand-dyed wool!
The wolf was one of the scariest things I've ever had to hook! It was my first
realistic animal. I often said that it's my pattern, so I can just cut the wolf
out. Perseverance again. Hook, and un-hook......try again. The feeling of it
finally being finished was wonderful!"
The Shahman
26” x 32 ½“
Designed and
hooked by Dana Psoinas
#2, #3, and
#4 cut hand-dyed wool on a lined backing
Additional
materials; sparkly wool, ribbon and silver thread
This rug was
inspired by a photograph of a man from Tibet, by an unknown photographer.
"I was
drawn to his lovely wrinkly face, full of life and expression. Since I couldn't find the photographer, I
moved him to North America. I've always loved American Indian art.
I
wanted to add fire, water, earth and air, since to me The Shaman is the keeper
of the land and protector of the people.
I
learned to use different fibers to acquire the look that I wanted. I learned to
let my rug evolve. I'm pretty good at keeping the big picture in my mind, but
you have to listen to your heart as new ideas come to you. Don't be too rigid
with your original idea."
The Green Woman- An
adaptation of Loretta Scena's pattern by that name
26 ½ x 28 ¼
Hooked by Dana Psoinas
Adapted, with permission from the pattern, “Green Woman” by Loretta
Scena
The Green Woman was Dana’s first portrait.
Hooking this portrait was a natural extension to her love of
drawing them, which led her to paint in wool instead of using pencils and paints.
“I've
enjoyed working on this rug so much”, says Dana. “Loretta Scena's Avatar
patterns just open your imagination up to so many possibilities. She made me
realize that I could create anything.”
The details and
shading in this rug are incredible and move the eyes from one area of the rug
to another, where you continue to find more and then realize there is not one
but three faces present.
The Muse
18 ½” x 23 ½”
Designed and hooked by Dana Psoinas
#2, #3 and #4 cut wool on linen
Hand dyed wool, shiny ribbon, thread and one earring
An apt name for this lovely rug, the
dictionary defines muse as,
"A person — especially a woman — who is a source of artistic
inspiration." And that is exactly what this rug is about.
Dana
designed this elegant pattern for a workshop on how to hook flowers.
"I learned
that it is so difficult to make a pattern that have fine shading involved! My
poor teacher must have been horrified when she received my multi-colored
pattern in the mail! It was the only way I could make sense of the background.
Also, I learned about hair. Highlights first, then low-lights and lastly
everything in between. It was a challenge to hook hair which actually looked
like it was pinned up.
Creamy skin
is HARD to do! Patience. Don't be afraid to reverse hook until you get it
right. My favorite part of this pattern was figuring out her silk shawl, trying to give it a silky look.
The fun bit
was adding an earring which belonged to my daughter and was her belly
button ring from her High school days."
Dana’s rugs are
certainly among the best I have seen and she has a great future in the Rug Hooking world. I am sure we will see a lot more of her.
Thank you Dana for being so generous with the sharing of your rugs and taking the time to write the comments on each of them represented here.
You can see more of Dana's rugs on The Welcome Mat, HERE
If this link doesn't lead to her page on the mat, you may have to sign up to become a member first. It is free and well worth it.
Anne, Jacqui and Maggie chatting away
Next Saturday 28th October will be our next meeting, to be held in Warrandyte. Hope to see you. New members always welcome. Please use the contact form on the right side of the page if you are interested. 
Hi friends and followers of the Yarra Valley Rug Makers.
Our group was small but that never seems to matter much. The conversation was lively and interesting as always. 
As we continued to work away on our rugs- Joy on her Psalm 23 rug, Anne Marie on her yarn hooked chair pad, Anne on her paisley rug and Chris on her In the Beginning rug, we chatted away and enjoyed a lovely winter lunch of soup and goodies.
Anne Marie is also working on a wool yarn chairpad, also in lovely bright colours of her home-spun, hand-dyed wool.
The photo below shows one of a rug, called Ín the beginning God created', which I started while holidaying in Tasmania. I needed to start a project that was portable 
We first had a drooling tour through Anne's craft room. Joy was needing some rug wool to whip the edges of the finished panels of her Psalm 23 staircase rugs and wouldn't you know it, Anne had the right wool in the right colour. I'm not kidding, you really can find whatever you want in Anne's craft room. It is a crafters paradise, but there was a condition attached to this.
For Joy to be able to use it she first had to untangle the massive criss cross wound skein that it came in. she soon discovered that this was not one continuous length of wool, but many short lengths of approx 10 metres each (only guessing the lengths), which is off course fine when you are whipping an edge.
