Antique Rug Progress

I worked a bit more on my rug, today. I am fighting off a cold, so I sit and work on projects and watch tv, that is my idea of resting;)

I Think I will stick with a dark background, which means thinking of what colors I am using in the motifs to blend in with blacks and a bit of brown and greens. I have a few rugs with black backgrounds and since this rug will go behind the couch as a hallway runner, I want it to blend in with the rest of the decor. I think a light shade would compete too much.

I will go with shades that blend with the blacks, but also show enough to give the rug movement. I also need to use lighter shades around the horses, so I may go with a brown shade or a gray black to set off the purples. It will be a matter of testing colors against them, to see what works best. I am not a fanatic about color choices, I pick some shades and then decide what works and throw it in. If you want to make your wool like this, you need to ball it up and do not stir, let the dye set by itself.



These are the shades that I used in the flowers and leaves. They were both creams, that I overdyed. I start with a light shade, then add another shade and usually a third, to get this effect. Adding a bit of blue to a light green gives the nice shade I have here and a nice variation of light to dark. With golds, I start with a yellow and add light to medium browns. I dye like I cook, a little of this and that in the pot and when it looks good, I throw the wool in. If the shade doesn't come out in a color I like, I add a bit of this or that to the mix;)