Ethel Hanevold (My Mother), 1898

Dimensions: 21" x 21"
Materials: #2- and #3-cut wool on monk's cloth
Adapted from a tintype and designed and hooked by Bernice Howell, Beltsville, Maryland, 1997.
Featured in: Celebration VIII

Inspired by Victoria Hart Ingalls's Portrait Lady (See Rug Hooking's June/July/August 1995 issue), Bernice Howell conceived a portrait of her own: an image of her mother as a child. Taken from a cherished 1898 tintype, the framed hooking shows Bernice's mother dressed in the fashion of the time and posed with a favorite doll. Bernice explained her project to Victoria (who became as excited about it as she was) and registered for Victoria's class at the 1996 Castle in the Clouds rug school to work with her on it.

The rug was created with both new and recycled wool from Bernice's collection. She purchased a spot-dyed piece for her mother's dress in what she felt was the perfect color but was unable to find a 6-value swatch to match it. So she cooked pieces of the original material to lighten their hue and used the resulting dye bath to overdye other pieces for darker areas, all "in a very unscientific way," she laughs. A 6-value swatch from Jeanne Benjamin provided a nice complement to the color.
- Bernice Howell, Celebration Hall of Fame 2018