Last week we had a very special presentation about Finnish Net Rugs. Ms. Lansdowne’s aunt makes beautiful rugs and we are very lucky that she agreed to come in and teach us all about them!
Mrs. Orr taught us about the history of the rugs and showed us how she makes them.
Did you Know?
- The net rug was a Sointula invention
- Mrs. Helmi Pakkalen noticed the many discarded fishing nets lying around and knew there had to be a use for them
- In the beginning the gill nets were made out of cotton, then came 3 ply nylon, and then mono (made more of plastic)
- There were many discarded nets when the fishermen switched from the 3 ply web to the new mono web
- The rugs are made by crocheting strands of the gill net together
- When you cut the nets you get long strings with tails on them
- The tails make the pile of the rug
- Mrs. Pakkalen made 400 rugs
- It takes Mrs. Orr about 40 hours to make a rug
- Mrs. Orr has made 183 rugs and she has taught many people how to make rugs too
- The rugs are different colours because fishermen used different coloured nets depending on the colour of the water they were fishing in
- Gill net rugs are soft and will last a very,very long time!
