The Value of Value

How do you use value in your hooking? How do you know what value to use when you have so many to choose from? Look at the values of black—from the deepest black all the way to light gray—on the chart shown here. Every color you hook has similar values, as illustrated by the value chart of blue. Using value effectively will add realism to your hooking.

What Is Value?

The simplest way to explain the use of value is this: value puts the polish on the apple, separates the side of a house from the front of a house, or makes something look like it is underneath or on top of another object. Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. Using values adds shape and dimension to everything you hook, regardless of the cut you use. Wider cut rugs won’t have room for as many values, but you can still use them.

This article is from the March/April/May 2014 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.