I am really happy that my Fraktur piece is done and I must admit, once the light went on there was no stopping. I totally enjoyed doing this piece – enjoyed the colours and had fun with the design – but also the fact that it had a purpose made it a fun piece to do. The overall size is 22 x 10 – not huge but very doable. Although I designed it for my new ugly table it would make a great pillow (with a prodded edge!!!) so I will be offering it as a pattern on linen and as a kit. I hooked it in 8.5 so you can see it has a more crowded primitive look but it could also be done in a smaller cut and more detail put into it. For this piece I intentionally squeezed in the bigger cuts as I wanted it to have that more primitive look – usually my circles are PERFECTLY round and points are PERFECTLY sharp – this time I did not want perfect anything! I used my colours – red, olive, gold, maple sugar but threw in some teal blue as this is a colour you will see often in Frakturs along with the usual red, green and gold. Plus, since I was designing it for that oxblood coloured table I threw in a wonderful plaid in oxblood tones with gold, red and green in it! The gold plaid I had was perfect – check out the beak! There is a black line running through the gold and I cut the strips so that on one edge the black line appeared and used this for the edge of the beak so that it would pop out of the maple sugar background! Must say I had to reconfigure the borders a few times as I was not sure what I wanted to do and realised when I looked at pictures of Frakturs that quite often they incorporate a geometric border. The stripes worked out perfectly. So check out the online store for patterns and kits – I think I MAY have to do more Fraktur patterns! and NO mine is not a mirror image – somewhat my own take on this one as it was designed for a long narrow table.
Didn’t the ugly table come out well – vacced it, washed it and then applied a coat of dark stain to cover up the chews and gouges. Next I want to give it a coat of wax – still has great patina but the worst of the wear is touched up a tad!
Looking good, Loretta!!
It’s lovely, Loretta.
I love the teal especially.
I couldn’t get my head around how you would use your colours in a Fractur.
Now I see.
I love the teal too – it adds just that spark that makes it a Fraktur!
very nice–it all works well together
Oh, Loretta!
Another perfectly ‘meant to be’ creation!
..and the tasteful touch of teal bursts the design to life.
Pat
The colors in this piece are wonderful together!
For those of us who are new to hooking can you tell me what is a fraktur? The piece is beautiful.
Hi Trish Fraktur is not a rughooking term – it actually refers to a type of folkart of the Pennsylvania Dutch (and Mennonites and Germans). I quote Wikipedia here “Fraktur drawings were executed in ink and/or watercolors and are found in a wide variety of forms: the Vorschriften (writing samples), the Taufscheine (birth and baptismal certificates), marriage and house blessings, book plates, and floral and figurative scenes. The earlier Fraktur were executed entirely by hand, while printed text became increasingly common in later examples. Common artistic motifs in Fraktur include birds, hearts, and tulips, as well as blackletter and italic calligraphy.” These make wonderful rughooking designs though – google images of Frakturs and you will see many wonderful possible rugs!
It is a beautiful Fraktur. Lovely colors and patern, specially the teal. I like his eyes. They look semi-closed and sleepy. It is an inspiration to do mine, even If I will not be at the Camp.
Also looks very good on that table.
Hi Louise – well i guess i had not yet had my second cuppa when i was hooking him – would explain the sleepy eye on the bird! i cannot believe YOU have not yet done your fraktur!!!!!!