Linda Hendrickson
Tablet Weaving and Ply-Splitting Books, Tools & Kits

Ply-Split Rug by Linda Hendrickson
Based on a traditional camel girth in the collection of Errol Pires, and worked in a combination of POT and SCOT

This is my first ply-split rug, completed in December 2004. I made the cords from rug wool in 2002, intending to make a ply-split rug, but the cords stayed in my studio for a couple of years while I thought about designs.

In October 2004, Errol Pires from India taught a workshop at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, and showed us how to create designs combining POT and SCOT, something I had not tried before. He also allowed me to scan a magnificent camel girth from his collection with these designs. Also during the same workshop, Maggie Machado brought in two ply-split rugs she had made. She used macrame cord to make 2-ply cords, and worked the rugs in POT. Click here to see Maggie's rugs.

After the workshop, I was inspired to study the chapter on POT/SCOT designs in The Techniques of Ply-Split Braiding by Peter Collingwood. Now that I have tried ply-splitting as a rug-making technique, I am really excited about it!

In this rug, the solid color diamonds in the center, and the half-diamonds along the edges are worked in POT. In the other diamonds, every crossing is a meeting of the two colors, and either color could show, depending on how they are split. So the design possibilities in those areas are just about endless! The finished rug is approximately 20" x 30", plus 2" fringe on each end. I used 88 cords (44 of each color) for this rug; they were 56" long and about 3/8" in diameter. They should have been about 10" longer! I did have to add some new length to a few of them -- a new experience. I didn't try to splice them. I just overlapped the old and new ends, and then after completing the splittings, unplied all of the overlapped ends and wove them into the back of the rug. A bit time consuming, but it worked. Note to self: make longer cords next time.


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This page updated on June 8, 2013.