CREATIVE CARPETS

"Be creative and make your own unique carpets, rugs, tapestries and much more!" That's the challenge laid down by locally based weaver Gudrun Robinson. For several years Gudrun has been combining Portuguese Arraiolos carpet wool with a little known technique called 'locker hooking', to produce unique carpets and tapestries made to measure for individual clients.

Now she is letting her secret out of the bag and showing you how to create these stunning pieces yourself. Gudrun's book, originally produced in Portuguese as "Ponto Trancado com Lã de Arraiolos", is now also available in English on CD-ROM. "Locker Hooking with Arraiolos Wool" is an instruction manual, giving detailed step-by-step guidance and lots of practical tips that stem from her personal experience.

Gudrun explained: "Packed with illustrations and colour photographs, the idea is that the CD-ROM will accompany you from your first small locker hooked item through to much larger, more advanced and complex projects, and offers many ideas to express your own creativity and embellish and personalise your home."

Anyone unsure about using a book on CD-ROM can rest assured that it is very simple. "Any computer 'browser' will do," Gudrun claims. "Just insert the CD and click your way through the book, it has many links making easy access to references and photographs and, of course, you can print out any section that you want to see on paper."

Alternatively, you may want to try one of Gudrun's kits, for either a potholder or a teacosy, complete with instructions in English, canvas, wool and locker hook. These and all other materials and equipment are available from Gudrun Robinson: Tel 289 991 159 or 965 687 300. The CD-ROM is also available from the Griffin Bookshop in Almancil.

*Picture shows wallhanging made by Gudrun Robinson

Article from Algarve Resident March 14, 2003.