Words, Words, Words

What do comic books, cartoons, and rug hooking have in common? Speech bubbles (aka word bubbles)!

Join us for a romp through the minds of a group of rug hookers in the summer of 2019, in a class at Green Mountain Rug Hooking School in Vermont. Under the direction of teacher Ellen Banker, these rug hookers designed and hooked word bubbles in colorful wool. Funny or poignant, clever or pithy—the group created an alphabet soup of thoughts and sayings. I was one of those students, and I’m here to say that class was a blast. 

Most of us had more than one idea
 for speech bubbles. As our mental 
wheels were turning and the hooks 
and wool strips were flying, 
conversation kept returning to 
what other word bubbles and 
sayings we might want to hook. 
The possibilities were endless: 
humorous, thoughtful, quirky, 
inspiring, and downright hilarious. 
We laughed as we hooked, and 
we jotted down ideas for the 
future word bubbles.

Are you up for a challenge? I would love to see some more word bubbles from our readers. As a quick and easy project, it can’t be beat. Make one for yourself, for a friend, for a child. Be silly, be serious, be thoughtful. Think of what your mom (or grandmother) used to say. I’m sure that you have a dozen words or sayings you could hook right now, so let’s bring them all together for a follow-up mini show in the pages of RHM.

Send me a high-resolution photo of your speech bubble by September 1—I can’t wait to see what you come up with. 

RHM will be bringing you even more words: Look for an article in the upcoming summer issue about hooking idioms. You may get a few more great ideas from our Canadian friends when you see their idiom rugs. What fun!

So commune with your cartoon alter ego and see what you can come up with. What do you want to say? What did your grandma always say? What do you want to tell the world? Put it in a word bubble!