I’m back from the rug weaving workshop with Judith MacKenzie at the Rainforest Art Center in Forks, WA. I brought my little workshop loom, a 20″ Macomber “Baby Mac” (model CP). I wasn’t sure it was sturdy enough for the tight tension and strong beating for rugs, but it did OK, especially as we were just making samples.
The first thing we tried was flokati, a technique for making a rug that looks like a fleece without having to kill the sheep/goat to get it! You weave distinct locks from a longwool breed with curl (not crimp), or locks of mohair from a goat, into a background web. So we put the locks in every 4th shed, then wove 3 shots of plain weave between, with a warp and weft that were soft enough wool to felt (in this case, some of Judith’s 70% Rambouilet/30% mohair yarn). Then you full (partially felt) the piece to make sure the locks of wool/mohair can’t pull out.
Here’s my sample underway on the loom:
We had three fleeces to choose from: a Wensleydale sheep, a Lincoln sheep, and a mohair goat. I wound up using all three, randomly mixed in on each row.
You can see what a beautiful, light-filled room we had to work in. It was upstairs in what had originally been an Odd Fellows Hall. We had help (strong men) carrying the looms and all of our other stuff upstairs the first day, and back down when we left.
Here are some of the flokati samples laid out on the floor:
The next day we put on a 1-yard warp of Judith’s bison yarn. This is 50% bison hair (not the soft downy expensive undercoat) blended with wool. It is kind of rough feeling but very tough for a rug. The bison weft yarns had been dyed by Judith so we had a number of colors to work with. The technique was pick-and-pick, which means you come up with pattern bands that form by alternating colors in the 2 sheds of plain weave. The goal was to make a limited selection of colors (6-8) look complex by the way they were combined (optical blending) and the various patterns used.
Judith had 2 sample bison rugs, a small one hanging on the wall:
and a larger one she had on the floor at her house for several years. This one was a lot softer and she said that was just from being walked on, not from washing!
I had some trouble maintaining even tension on my sampler. I decided this was because my “shoestring method” of tieing on to the front apron rod just wasn’t holding under the tight tension and heavy beating needed to pack the weft down so it completely covers the warp. So my sample was all wonky towards the end – curved and angled. This can’t be fixed after the fact. But at least I got to try the pick-and-pick technique.
Here is a shot of everyone’s bison samplers laid out on the floor (mine is bottom right):
The last warp we put on was 2 yards of a white 4-ply wool warp. This time I tied on to the front apron rod the conventional way (no shoestrings), with a surgeon’s knot that could be tightened until the tension was even across, then a second square-knot type tie. It worked a lot better!
The idea was to try a number of techniques. The first one was clasped wefts, a way to get 2 colors in one shed by “clasping” one around the other and then pulling that point through to where you want the colors to meet in the piece. So you are beating a double shot of each color in each shed.
clasped wefts in a random pattern
Oh, we were weaving with the softer and less bulky Rambouillet/mohair blend yarn that Judith had dyed for us. Still pretty sturdy but softer feeling on the surface. I was enjoying this so much that I continued with some pick-and-pick patterns and will repeat the clasped weft pattern at the other end, making a square piece for a pillow top.
This is about as far as I got before we had to pack up and leave on Monday. I’ll finish it at home. Judith did demonstrate soumak and some knotted and pile techniques, and I may try them on the rest of this warp, but we’ll see.
On the way home I spent 2 nights with my friends at Lake Quinault (Lochaerie Resort, see sidebar). The weather was gorgeous and Chris and I went for a hike in the rainforest on the South Shore on Tuesday. On Wednesday I met Rick in Seattle and we spent the afternoon and evening with our dear friends who are currently living in Redlands. Then home again after 8 days and 1000 miles on Thursday, back to the Methow!
We were supposed to go camping up in British Columbia with my Dad, but his Rialta RV developed an engine problem when he took it into Anacortes to have the tires checked. So he had to have it towed to an RV service place and things were up in the air. But now he is coming over here tomorrow (in his Prius with the cat) and we will just have some good times in the Methow Valley and surrounding areas. So that’s my story for now!
Twisp of Fate 
You are a true inspiration! Love all you projects!!
Thank you for posting the info on weaving flokati. My students and I have been exploring it but without total success. Would you be willing to share more info? For example, which fleeces worked best, how did you go about fulling them and for how long, which sample is yours (seeing before and after helps)?
Best,
Morgan
U of WI.River Falls
Art Dept/Textiles
Morgan – all 3 fleeces worked well. As noted, the main point was to have a long staple with CURL but not crimp, so the locks themselves are less likely to felt. To full them, Judith filled a sink with hot water, added some Dawn dish detergent (but not too much, just a squirt) then put the flokati piece in upside down (woven web side up). Let it soak a little bit then agitated it vigorously with a sink plunger (these look like a toilet plunger but have a short handle). It took 5 minutes or less to full enough to secure the locks in the woven web. You don’t want it hard like a rock, just fulled enough to keep the locks from pulling out. Have to keep pulling it out of the water and examine it, tugging gently on the locks. Then she shocked it in cold water to rinse it out, this makes it shrink a little more. I think she took them home to spin them out in her extractor but you could do that on spin cycle on a washing machine. Then just lay it out to dry. I don’t know which one is mine in the picture, sorry!
Thanks Katie. That helps a lot. When you wove in the “pile” do you recall aprx. how many warp ends you tied each lock of wool down with? Also, roughly how long was the staple?
Morgan
Had to go out to the studio and find my notes! The staple length was at least 6″ I think, but I didn’t write it down. You can see a little pile of locks laid out on a table to the left of my loom, in the picture above, ready to be woven. Our samplers were warped with 120 ends sett at 6 epi and threaded in a straight draw. The warp and weft were the same, a soft worsted weight yarn. We aimed to weave a 20″ x 20″ square, which would shrink to about 18″ x 18″ after fulling. With the shed open the butt end of each lock was laid in under 4 raised threads, butt end to the left, tip of lock emerging to the right. So under RAISED ends 1-4, 5-8 etc the first time. Then 3 shots of tabby were woven with just the weft yarn, but “placed”, not really beat, so it was a loose-ish web that would felt. Then when the next shed was opened to place locks, they were offset to the right by 2 raised warp ends, i.e. nothing under 1-2, then under 3-6, 7-10, etc. Then after the next 3 shots of plain tabby shift the lock placement back to the left by 2 raised warp ends. Etc.
That really helps Katie. You are very generous to take the time to share all this info. We are very appreciative. I have looked and looked on-line and found loads on buying and caring for but only your blog on making flokati. It seems odd. We’ll start playing this week now that we have some instructions to go by.
Thanks again.
I have a rug from my mother in laws estate that might have been made using the flokati technique. Is there someone who could look at pictures and maybe confirm this? My goal would be to find a museum that would like it as a donation.
Thanks
Mary Richards
I second Morgan’s response – more data would be wonderful. Also, does Judith MacKenzie by chance have a book or dvd that covers flokati? Info much appreciated and tnx for posting this!
She has not published anything about it, sorry! But she said she may contact Handwoven magazine to see if they are interested in an article on flokati.
Thank you sooooooo much! I have been looking for weeks for specific weaving info on Flokati rugs. haven’t found info on forums or books or anywhere.
“The Complete Handbook of Flokati and Carpet Making” by Don Sebastian has information about the history, care, and all aspects but weaving! The felting in Greece is done under a waterfall in a vat, he says “Cheap, low quality rugs of 1.4 kilos per square meter are kept in the falls for only bout two hours, those 2.5 kilos per square meter 6 to 8 hours, those 3.3 kilos per square meter up to ten hours, and those 4 kilos and over at least fifteen hours.”
I can’t find the one sentence he wrote about the actual weaving, but I think he wrote that good rugs had five wefts between the tufts, and low quality rugs had up to 15.
When weaving by machine, something called a “shag bar” is used.
Anyone know anything about what that is or how that works???
HI:) BEAUTIFUL WORK … DO YOU SELL THE FLOKATI RUGS… THE SMALL PIECES ARE PERFECT FOR PHOTOGRAHY. IF YOU DO PLEASE LET ME KNOW
Sorry, that is the only one I have ever made!
How did you finish the ends of the flokati rug?
I think I wove a plain weave header with the background weft before and after the flokati part, at least 1/2″ maybe more, and left long warp ends too because I wasn’t sure how I would finish it. Figured I could carefully pull out the headers if I decided to do a knotted finish or something. But in the end I had it made into a pillow and they used the headers I had woven to sew the backing of the pillow onto. Hope this makes sense, it was a while ago!