Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum

FINNISH FOLKLORE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE GREAT

LAKES MINING REGION ORAL HISTORY PROJECT 1972-1978 (Funded in part by the National Endowment For The Humanities)

F.F.S.C.G.L.M.R. DIGITIZATION PROJECT 2010-2011 (Funded in part by the Keweenaw National Historic Park Advisory

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Finnish American Historical Archive and Museum Finlandia University 601 Quincy St. Hancock, Michigan 49930 USA 906-487-7347 - fax: 906-487-7557

Elaine Louk~nenEva MutkalaSeptember 28,1974

!~ PAGE COMMENT

Cutting the rags 2348

2348Blending the mater1als--cotton, wool, etc.,

Choosing the colors 23119

Procedure for the loom 2349

How to save the warp

Problems with colored rows 2352

How to shake and clean a rug

XV'!' 2347

SUbject Mattera: The Craft of Making leg Rugs

Respondent. Eva Mutkala

Calments a

II This is an inten' i- w i th Bfa MutkBla and she' 8 one of Pelkie's rug-makersand we're in her weaving roan now, she has a special place where she w.Yeaand she's w_",inS a rug right nc.. When d Id )1Ou cane to this area,

19.38.HI:

:II And when d id ~u get interested. or how did 1OU get interested in _king

rugs,

Ita Well. it'a just saDething that I thought I would like to try and I startedland oont1mled tran then on, it' s about &even, eight years ago that I started

I. But did you aee somebody making rugs?

RI: No.

XI a. did you kn<* there were 10<D8 available and that sort of thing!

R. Oh. well. it was just advertised in the pap.. and I answered the ad that thelady had in L'Anse and I bought it second-band trom her.

r. Was she a rug~k8r?

II: And then hr. did you learn how to work the loom?

II Did she show you hCM to warp it up'

HI

II

:&V'1' 2.348

Ra: NO.. Jlrs. Sylvia (NOrman) Ruuspskka.

I,: And then did you start taking orders?making rugs then?

Ji)w did people know that you were

RI; Well. it just goes around the country, I guess,anything and pretty soon people'd call me and...

. cause I DeYer advertised ozt

II They hard you were making..

a. One pereon tell another. I guess. that's the only way I can t~e it out~because I didn't do any advertising or anything. it just.. .pretty soon I

more work than I could take care ot. yeah.

II

HI Most ot the tme. most ot the 'tJme they do

II And 1OU like to cut the rags yourself?

R. Yes.

I: 8: Why is that,

XI:

r. Wh7 i8 that,

Ra

II

H,

:8'1' 234 9

she liked then bett.. my way than her way.. .so tbat' s the one and only timethat anyone bas ev.. sorted ths all ~t and picked than exactly, they willtell me 8amet~ it they bave certain things, like it they bave, oh. 8amebrowns it they would like to bave a brown carpet, oh, theY'll tell me tbat,you know, but they never sort them, they just let me go ahead and I can picand choose most of the t tne the contrast ing colors for the tr ~ and thingslike that, they nev.. say anything and I've bad very few c~plaints, at lea tthey don't tell me.

II About how long would it take you to cut up the rags and wea'V'e thsn togetherand including the warping and that to Eke, say, a yard, or ba'V'e you everfigured it out per yard,

Ra

II

II

R: Cutt:lng and a_ing, del ini tely.

II Really-

Ra

It Which is the most tun?

RI

It; That's right, you didn't mention that before.how otten do you take. ,ou roll all your... When you finish w_viDg. then

II; On your roll.

Ra

:a"r 2350

that's a lot ot ,ardage on there...and it's too heavy for me to handle, torone thing when you get the oft it' s very heavy.

II

Ra No. Y learned hCM to use with a thing that they call an apron and you don'tlose any warp...see. when I get to the end of this one I start the next rugwhich will be on the next roll and then I cut them in halt here. Y put thestretch.- OD. I don't use the stretcher ordiDarUy to. but that keeps therug as wide as it should be. the stretcher...then Y cut them in halt likeI cut ordinarily just dividing the rugs apart ad...

r. That is. you cut one.

Ra

II You s- the apron on by hand?

I,:

HI Tie the fringes on the new one.

Ia . .. the tr ingea on the.

HI

I. On the n- w~tf'

RI

II

HI

II rt's already on there.

R8

:&"l' 2351

II: You cut 1 t between...

HI Between the dividers, I call those dividers...

%1: . . .4 in 4.-8 .

I. On your ns rug.

..

X, You tie the knots at the end?

R,

x. Rtght.. .ob. that's a really sPad...Ra

II

Rt

II j. rug-maker.

Ra

XI:

RI

I. And you S8 that apron on...It,;

II

&V'1' 2352

The main body-Ra

II:

Count the rows.RI

So you DIlke two separate ~11 ballsII

HI

Wb8n you start the rug.II

R.

You ~ r~s'It

R.

.And then you've got it for tbe end.II:

~ I've got up tor the end and I can use up all the other in the IIdddle ot "

the rug...that sa~es a lot ot tbinking...in the contrast trtD I do the same'thing W l'th, it I b8~e a small ball I'll di~ide it in balt cd It 11 save onetor the other end and one tor the beginning end.. .and that way you dont t runou't without anything, )IOu kn~. you don't torge't.

HI

And you get your borders and ends 89'ml.II

HI Your bardsos ere even and your ends are even aM 6f'ery'thing... the t jme that Iyou run into probl8D8 is in the body ot the rug if you dec ide to put one Icolor str1peacros~ 6f'SO1 12 or 14 rows.. ..h~ you ~ down to the other endof it a<D8t:imea ,ou on11 ha'Ye 10 r~s...your mtso1al just doesn't last outso I usuall1 put the 10 rows in or else I'll put 12 rows and then steal twotr<D this one and put into tbe last it it' s going to be too narrow. ..and tbBt

\doesn't show at all.. .nobody' s going to go down and count if there's 10 or 12

or 14...

:I, Rr.s pmo stripe.

Ra Because it n8V'er 8h~8.

Ie t~t why you don't 8ke a lot ot etrlped ruga'II

HI No. the r~on I don't make a lot of 8triped ruga 18 because 1f they war on1the end )1OU !MiTe to reTel otf end retie ~ur warp...and after a while you don t

baTe a stripe on one end end JOU do on the otber. sanetimes they'll W8r outmore fI"aI1 one end than the other...and people me~ the by ripping ott _tn. .

II Ripp ins the rasa out.

:IV'!' 2353

R~ Ripping the rags out until the broken area is gone. then they retie the wa1and they ~ve very short bordmo on one end and a full one on the other.

II: That' s right. ,ou've told me that many tws.

HI Yeah, that's wby...and then, too, it they have a group ot materials tbat th Ywant for a certain rocm, you put your color contrast in there not knCMingwhere they're going to use it. you might have a contrast of contlicts withtheir roan.. .and unless people spec ify they want colored ends I don't putthsn. . . and I don't put th- on my own.. .rarely that I put then on my c.n.

Ia You m~ colored warp ends'

Ra No. no. colored...these borders right here...yeah. you pick contrast colorsto go in.. .and I rarely put th8l1 in my own.. .not that I mend so many rugabut it's that...1 like them plain...and like I say people. you don't knowwhere they're going to use them in their haD.e, maybe you put green and lE1bthat green don't tit in the roam that they're sping to use that in...so whaI: would think would be pretty in there and it might look real nice wouldn'twork where they plan to use the rug it'll m-ack the warp mD7 times.it'll break warp in a couple at washes you've got a loose place and it'sbreeking...you're supposed to hang your ruga by the side: but not all peopledo tba t. . .and a lot ot people will shake their ruga. they'll shake them bythe end n. especially. they like 'to hear it snap and you'll see the w

tlying.. .it' s true.

II 1a would you recaJlnend, I don't think I've ever asked you that, hCM wouldyou recalmend sha1dng a rug?

Ra Fran the side. holding it by the side and shaking it...and reversing it. la -ing it down, ta1d.ng the other side and sbaking it on the other waY...aMthat's the way I always do it and I think that' s the easiest on the rug andyou hang them on the line, you hang them by the side with many pins...don'tbend it over, use pinch-type closepin and just, oh. three or four inchesapart. lots of pins on it.

II And how about Cleaning the rugs in the springtiDe on the crust?telling me about that? Weren't )IOul

RI

I.

HI