HIGHLIGHTING IRISH LGBTQ+ CREATIVES

I started making rugs during the first lockdown. I was living at home in Galway for a short period of time, and I desperately needed a creative outlet. I saw some YouTube and TikTok videos of people tufting rugs, so I decided to invest in it as a hobby at first.

My logo inspired me to start trying out the liquid rugsthe background of it is an oil slick design, so I started attempting to imitate the liquid paint marbling. After a few trials and errors, it started to look like what I had originally envisioned.

The process for the rugs can be quite lengthy depending on the size and detail. I start by drawing out the shape of the rug I want on the fabric, which is stretched out on a frame that I built. Then, I fill in the lines that I’ve drawn using two different types of tufting guns. One is a loop gun, which loops the wool tightly around the fabric, and the other is a cut pile gun, which cuts the wool, so it gives a denser texture. It’s very similar to colour by numbers only using wool instead of paint.

I try to use as much bio-degradable materials as possible, I use wool and cotton yarn as often as I can, and all my packaging is 100 percent plastic free.

Check out more designs on www.Rugcetera.com and on the company’s Instagram page.