Sea Shore Inspired Toothbrush Rug

Toothbrush rugs are thought to be Scandinavian in origin, before being taken across to America, where they are more commonly known as Amish rugs. They were traditionally made using thin lengths of scrap material and the handle of an old tooth brush - hence the name.

Back when they were made from wood, toothbrushes would have a hole drilled in the end to enable it to be hung up by the sink (in fact, if you look at most modern plastic tooth brushes they still have a dimple in the end of the handle). Once the head of the brush was no longer useable, you would simple chop the end off, and use it as a large needle to make a rug.

I still use a toothbrush handle (although a plastic one) to make my rugs and old cotton sheets in a range of colours (washed thoroughly first), as they are hard wearing, easy to wash and a great way of recycling.


To make a toothbrush rug you will need:

Fabric strips of your choice - cotton or lightweight fabrics are easiest to use when you are starting out.

(Note - if using duvet covers with a printed design, make sure the intensity of the print is almost the same on the reverse side of the material otherwise, when the strips are knotted, you will be left with the majority of the paler material showing in the rug).

A toothbrush needle

A safety pin

Pair of scissors

An old cushion

A flat surface to work on (table / floor etc)


How to do it:

Cut or rip a piece of fabric lengthways into strips of about 1.5 inches wide. If you rip the strips, you will need to pull out any loose threads. Ripping the strips can also create a lot of dust, so rip them either outside or in a well ventilated area.

Take two of the strips and cut a small slit near each end of both strips. (I am using strips of contrasting fabric for illustrative purposes but would usually use two strips of the same colour to make a rug).

You will now need to join the two strips together to form a flat knot.

Thread the end of one of the strands (Strand A) through the slit on the other strand (Strand B)

Now thread the far end of Stand A, through the slit on Strand A

Gently pull all the way through

To make a knot

Push the point of the safety pin through the knot and attach it to an old cushion or something similar.. This will act as an anchor, enabling you to form your first round of stitches.

Knotting The First Round

Thread the end of the left hand strip of material through the hole in the toothbrush needle. This is the LIVE STRAND. The right hand strip of material is known as the CORE STRAND.

To make a stitch, cross the live strand over the core strand, then pass it behind the core and thread it back through the loop you have made. Pull this live strand reasonably tight to form the first stitch.

 Repeat 5 more times.

 You should now have a row of 6 stitches

Unpin the material from the cushion and remove the safety pin. Remove the toothbrush needle from the live strand and thread it onto the core strand. Push the end of the toothbrush needle through the very first stitch you made in the chain to form a ring of stitches.

Knotting The Second Round

Rethread the toothbrush needle onto the live strand.

Push needle back through the first stitch, but this time, pass the live strand under the core strand and back up through the loop, in the same way that you made the first row of stitches. Repeat this step - making another stitch in the first stitch of the first round. Continue around the ring, working in a counter clockwise direction, making two stitches in each stitch from the previous round. Your second round should now have 12 stitches in total.

NB - if you are left handed, the right hand strand of material is the LIVE strand, the left hand strand, the CORE and you will work in a CLOCKWISE direction.

(It may help to re-pin the safety pin into the first stitch in round 1 so you can easily identify where each round begins).

 

Round Three

Again make two new stitches in each of the stitches from the previous round, making a total of 24 stitches.

Round Four

For the fourth round, make one stitch in each of the stitches from the previous round = 24 stitches.

CHANGE COLOUR OF BOTH THE LIVE & CORE STRANDS. (again I am using contrasting colours for demonstration purposes).

The live strand will naturally twist whilst you are working with it. Simply hold the rug in one hand and let the needle and live strand fall, and allow it to untwist itself.

Break off any loose cottons as you go.

To  add new strips of material or change colour of strands , use the same flat knot you used to connect the very first two strips of material.

Round Five

For the fifth round, make two stitches in the first stitch from the previous round and then a single stitch in the next two stitches from the previous round. Continue this pattern all around the circle until you come back to the place where you changed colour.

Round Six & Seven

Make two more rounds with a single stitch in each

Round  Eight Onwards
After round seven, there is no set pattern for making a toothbrush rug as it depends on the type of material being used and the tension of the stitches. However, to enable the circle to grow bigger without curling up, you will need to make additional stitches every so often ( similar to round five). For the first few rounds, this may be needed every second stitch or third stitch.

When the stitches are too tight together, too many increases have been made, when the stitches are too loose / long, more increases are needed.

The two most common problems are either;

The edges curling up like a bowl
This is either because the tension of the core strand is too tight (to correct work on a flat surface and regularly press the rug out flat with the palms of your hands) OR because there are not enough stitches  (to correct add more).

The edges start to go wavy
This is an indication that there are too many stitches being put in. Again, ensure you work on a flat surface so you can keep a check of what is happening, an make several rounds of single stitches until it evens out again.


To Finish

When you have made the rug to the desired size (or run out of material), thread the tails of both strands through the nest two stitch spaces and then weave the ends towards the centre of the rug through the rows for about two inches. Make sure you finish on the underside of the rug.to continue stitching as before.

To add further rows at a later date, simply un-weave the strand ends and attach new strands.



For added security, you could also sew the ends into place with needle and cotton.

Werifesteria

The word 'werifesteria' has just arrived in a posting on a social media site I use. I wasn't sure about the word, I'm not entirely convinced it's real but the accompanying picture of woodland intrigued me as I seem to have developed an addiction to trees.

Supposedly an old English verb, it means ' to wander longingly through the forest in search of adventure'. It's not a word I've heard before and considering I'm now 42 and  feel I now almost qualify as an old Englander,  I should have done if it were real.  But if it isn't a real word, it should be.

Being fortunate to be paid to spend time in the woods connecting young people with trees, I'm always looking for ways of encouraging teenagers to wander through the woods to look for adventure and mystery for surely, if you don't know what you are looking for, this is when you will discover the unexpected. The drum of a woodpecker, the bracket fungus on a dying oak, the sett of a badger or a carpet of bluebells.

I've been using the John Muir Award as a way of attaching meaning to the seemingly aimless wanderings, building on John Muir's legacy of exploration and discovery, as many young people are uncertain about venturing into the natural spaces around them. To create both a way of capturing their personal discoveries and achievements and a personal memento of their time in the woods, I've been creating a journal of discovery for each participant to write, draw, scribble and stamp muddy footprints into.

The word WERIFESTERIA will be entering the journals.

A Lick of Paint

Freezing cold today and after a week working out in the woods, I decided to hide away indoors and finally unpack the remaining boxes in the kitchen from my house move almost a year ago. Whilst unpacking I decided I needed more shelving space so decided to upcycle an old display cabinet I picked up for £7.

 

 

 

Has it really been a year!

Wow! It's been ages since I last wrote on this page and so much has happened.

Left the beaches of Devon for the woods of the Cotswolds which sadly means almost no driftwood inspired makes any more. Boo! On the other side, my new job means lots of new woodland inspired makes. Yey!

My New Years resolution will be to try and write more posts on here and my blog about woodland and tree related crafts and activities - I'm getting quite good at spoon carving and keep meaning to learn to make cord from nettles.

At the moment I'm trying to create a woodland journal based on the diaries of the great Victorian plant hunters to help inspire teenagers to explore and discover the natural world. I really like Keri Smith's 'Wreck It' series of journals which encourage you to break the rules as far as keeping everything neat and tidy.

I'll keep you all posted.

K

You're never too old to play!

The autumnal weather of the past weekend provided some amazing lighting for some arty farty shots. And of course, where there's a beach and where there are boulders, then by law, you have to stack them on top of each other. Mr Goldsworthy, you have a lot to answer for.

SeaShore Jar

Another busy day, what with a full day at work and playing catch up on a one of the new Future Learn courses. Been trying to get my head around the inequality of land ownership and access in Nepal. Why - I do not really know.

But anyway, managed to set aside a few minutes to make a couple of seashore jars from some old glass jars, a bit or garden twine, a shell and glass beads. They only take minutes to make, but removing the original lables takes forever. anyway - you may feel like making one so here's how to do it.

Start with a clean, dry glass jar.

Using a craft glue - I use Copydex, paint a wide band around the jar with the glue. I leave about an inch gap at the bottom of the jar and stop about two thirds of the way up. Now wrap the twine around the jar on top of the glue, pressing it firmly down as you go. Snip off the end of the twine when you have reached as far up the jar as you wish to go.

Paint another bans around the neck of the jar - probably about a centimeter wide. Wrap more twine three times around the neck of the jar and tie the ends in a double knot or reef knot to secure, leaving both ends of the twine long enough to hang to the base of the jar.

Thread a shell onto one end of the twine and secure into place with a double knot or reef knot. Now add a large bead to the end of both pieces of twine and secure on with a knot.

Wow - It's shocking to think that this is my first post since February. What have I been doing instead? To be honest, I'm not really sure. 

It's been a hectic summer or workshops, shows and day to day work, with an evening a week of youth club thrown in. And now, it's a hectic autumn of applying for jobs and driving around the country for interviews as my full time job is coming to an end at the end of the year.

I have one last driftwood workshop before the year is out. This time we'll be making driftwood Christmas trees and decorations. Again at the local marine education centre. So I have spent a fair bit of this weekend gathering driftwood, particularly as I was hoping the super storm would bring some ideal pieces of wood in with the tide. Fortunately, (although unfortunately on the driftwood gathering front), the storm was not as severe as predicted, so not a huge amount was collected.

But I did manage to catch a few stormy wave shots though.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon Creativity

Yey! For the first time in absolutely flipping ages, I've managed to have a Sunday off that actually feels like a Sunday. That is, I've already had the Saturday off work rather than Sunday being my Saturday (if that makes sense) - in fact I've had the whole week off, which is probably why I felt so relaxed and inspired to be creative.

First of all I finally got around to making myself a new scribbling journal from an old French book I bought in a withdrawn from stock sale in the local library months ago. I just liked the cover as it was unusual and thought it would make a great notebook. Also I don't speak French and I'm not really that fussed about Columbus (Shackleton on the other hand would have been a different matter).

I needed to make a photo album for a friend a couple of summers ago and so another friend gave up an afternoon of his summer holidays from teaching to teach me simple book binding. Apart from the photo album, I've made a couple of small notebooks where I made the whole book including the cover and spine. This is the first one I've made to actually fit a pre-made cover.

Of course, obviously, I'm left with all the original pages from inside the book needing a new life.

I found several sites on the tinternet with instructions to make paper flowers, so that was a few pages used up and the flowers used to decorate my ever growing display / pile of driftwood in the front room.

So a few more pages used, but there were a lot of pages in the book), plus a rather ugly picture of C.C. himself).

What else could I make?

Last weekend, when not watching starlings, a group of us explored the mystic streets and magical ley lines of Glastonbury and spied in the window of one of the few shops not filled with rune, dream catchers and scary horned black wooly things, some rather pretty paper bird and butterfly mobiles. So here are my versions using, yep, you've guessed it, some pages from that French book.

 

These are really easy to make but quite effective (despite my photo's). Simply draw out the shape you would like on several pieces of paper and cut out. Using some of the scraps of paper left over, line up the scraps and cut out shapes as such. (the scraps of paper give you something to sew onto to create to stitched effect in the thread between the shapes).

Using a sewing machine and matching coloured thread,sew along the centre of all the paper in a continuous line. There is no need to secure the beginning of the sewing by reverse stitching as you will tie off the end afterwards. At the end, of all the paper, cut the thread and tie in an overhand knot to secure. Repeat this at the other end.

Carefully remove the unwanted scraps of paper by ripping away from each side of the stitches.

Hey Presto! You have a garland or mobile.

Cooking on a Candle

So, I survived Samba Band - and the Bailey's laced coffee and the pint in the pub afterwards (there seems to be lots of alcohol involved in playing Samba) or maybe this was just to stave off the cold as band practice is in one of the local churches which aren't the snuggest of buildings. Good fun and was volunteered to make up numbers on the largest sirdar? drum which makes up the bass rhythm and which only halfway through did people admit that they had been going for weeks and never had the nerve to give it a go - thanks for not mentioning that earlier!

Tonight I passed on an old bushman survival skill picked up in the outback to a group of teenage boys at the youth club (yep that's where I spend my Friday evenings). Should you find yourself lost in the wilderness and in need of sustenance all you need to create a meal from heaven is the following.

1 nightlight candle
1 box of cornflakes (or rice crispies)
1 bar of chocolate
A small aluminum foil pie dish - cup cake size
1 wooden peg
1 teaspoon
And something to light the candle with. 

Whilst out gathering tucker in the bush I find these things are readily available, especially if your walkabouts take you past the local supermarket.

Heat the chocolate in the foil dish over the candle - using the peg as a handle to stop burning your fingers. When it eventually melts ( and this could take sometime especially if it's cold) quickly mix in some cornflakes before the chocolate solidifies again and hey presto! You've made a chocolate crispie cake thing.

Yum Yum

The Big 40!

Five days ago I reached the big 40. At which, so they say, life begins. In truth, I've never been that fussed about age. Yes, admittedly, as a small child, I always wanted to be older, and there are moments where I would to return to nursary school where there was nothing more stressful than the sand pit to negotiate. But in general, age has always been just a number that plays no direct role in how I lead my life.

However, turning 40 has made me stop and think for a while. Not about getting old nor about my life being half way through (in fact isn't 50 the new 40?), but that somewhere along the line I seem to have lost the believe that nothing is impossible that I possessed at 19. With age comes increased responsibilities and an increased awareness that none of us are invincible, But surely, if anything, being 40 means that I am more confident and have more life experience, knowledge and skills to be able to deal with the new and unexpected more competently that I could at 19?

At 19, along with two friends, I caught a coach from London to the South of France, with £50 in my pocket and a plan to work our way to India. Weeks later, relieved of my money and my friends of their passports, and an epic 24 hour hitch hiking adventure through France, I caught another coach, alone this time, to start a new job in the Lake District. Just after my 20th birthday, I flew to Israel to meet friends (the same ones involved in the French catastrophe) where I danced in nightclubs with armed soldiers and swam with dolphins, picked peach blossom and joined the hundreds of sun burnt tourists floating in the Dead Sea. 

At 39, I tend to put things off until tomorrow.

So, at 40, I've decided to stop procrastinating and grab every opportunity that comes my way. Who knows where it may lead?

So far, over the past five days, I've witnessed the natural spectacle of a starling murmeration where hundreds of thousands of starlings flock together to roost over the Somerset Levels. The sheer number of birds flying over your head is almost too many to get your head around. 

Pulled apart an owl pellet. There's skulls and jaw bones and all sorts in there! 

Helped to coppice a hawthorn wood to provide new growth for dormice and this evening, off to try Samba band practice.

So much for growing old gracefully. I aim to grow old inquisitively.

Coffee Bag Rag Rugs

Back home visiting my folks for Christmas, I managed to obtain a couple of hessian coffee sacks from a local tea trader.I'd been told they make the ideal backing for rag rugs, and as I've never tried making one before - here goes.

It makes a change from making Toothbrush Rugs and also enables me to use up some of the scraps of material and old clothes I've been carrying around for ages and not wanted to throw away nor known what to use them for.

So far I've used an old t shirt, some material scraps from the dressmaker who works in an office upstairs from me and a pair of stripy trousers I bought in Kendal 20 years ago.

I think I maybe making the stitches or whatever they are called too close together as its taking ages, but 'hey ho!'

A Shameless Plug

I hope you are all busy and enjoying making seashell necklaces with your shore line finds. However, should Christmas be approaching a wee bit too fast for all your planned makes and project ambitions. You can purchase a range of seashell necklaces from me directly through my Folksy Shop - check it out at http://folksy.com/shops/driftwooddreams.

I can make items to order and please send me a message if you have any queries about shipping outside of the UK.

Thank You Very Muchly,

K

Seashell Necklaces - PArt 2

Some more necklace ideas...happy making!