Punch Needle Rug Hooking Around the World
Have You Heard About Rug Punching?
Unlimited Boundaries – Ingrid’s certification rug with mainly punch hooking, scrolls in regular rug hooking, and some ribbon as embellishment.
This past year has been busy for Amy Oxford. Amy, who has been involved in the business of punch needle rug hooking for over 30 years as a commercial rug hooker, book author, and inventor of the Oxford punch needle, has watched a traditional American craft erupt into a global craft movement in the span of less than a year.
At her heart, Amy is a teacher, and her mission is to share the craft of punch needle rug hooking with others. In 2012, she purchased a Colonial farmhouse in the beautiful Champlain Valley of Vermont and turned it into the Oxford Rug Hooking School. The building, which was built in 1816, is now the site of the Oxford Punch Needle Rug Hooking Teacher Certification Program, an intensive week-long program led by Amy and designed to train others to punch with precision and to teach the craft of punch needle rug hooking in their own respective cities.
In 2016, I was at West Coast Craft in San Francisco when I saw the work of textile artist Alise Anderson. Inspired, I looked up everything I could about making loops in fabric. I had no experience with traditional rug hooking, let alone punch needle rug hooking. After a few false starts (including the purchase of a commercial grade Chinese tufting gun!), I found Amy’s website and enrolled as a student in the Oxford Teacher Certification Program. I certainly had no idea that the quiet world of punch needle rug hooking was about to explode.
