This week I had a returning rug-hooking student who had cut all the loops in their first piece, and was surprised to hear that we don't usually do that - and now I know why! They saw a video like this one! (It's amazing, I can see why it went viral.)
SO. Let's talk about the differences between hand-hooking (aka 'traditional rug hooking'), its cousins punch-hooking (using a punch-needle tool like Amy Oxford's) and rug-tufting (using a motorized punch-needle like in the above video) - and why some standard methods in rug tufting are very much frowned on by rug hookers.
All three of these techniques start with the same stitch: the running loop stitch. It looks like running-stitch on the back of your work, and produces a looped pile. Rug hookers use a hand-hook that looks like a crochet hook embedded in a wooden handle (for leverage and ergonomics) to pull the loops up toward them; it's a slower, more meditative technique. Punch-needle (faster) and rug-tufting (zoom zoom) work from the back of the piece to push the loops through the foundation fabric. (These knotless techniques are not to be confused with latch-hooking, a knotted-pile rugmaking technique.)
Rug hooking can use any even-weave foundation fabric, and any material that can be sliced into ribbons (in addition to yarn) to make the looped pile. It's originally (insofar as we know its' true history) a thrift craft that was used to stretch the lifespan of textiles that were too worn or threadbare to go into a quilt, which was popularized on the eastern seaboard of North America when feedsacks made of jute burlap became common in the nineteenth century. However, jute dry-rots in some climates and is susceptible to breakage along folded edges; the longest-lasting hooked rugs in museum collections are made with a linen foundation fabric and strips of wool-flannel fabric.
All the standards against which hand-hooked rugs are measured in exhibitions come from what would make a rug last longest on the floor, even if the piece will never be used that way. So, as a rule, rug hookers use linen and strips of woolen fabric, usually a flannel; there should be no bumps or crossovers and the loops should be the same height (to prevent trip hazards). Edges are finished with stitching techniques that eliminate folds and extend the life of the rugs.
Linen is also a pleasant-feeling fibre against the hands and stiff enough when stretched on a rug hooking frame for ease of hand-hooking. As woolen mills have become rarer and wool clothing has fallen out of fashion, rug hookers have become more experimental with the fibres used as the pile and begun incorporating more yarn. However, because of yarn's natural twist obscuring directional hooking, many rug hookers prefer to use woven fabrics that have been cut into strips. It shows your brush-strokes better, so to speak. In my part of the world, original art worked with hand-dyed wool flannel is the norm; in other regions, working from designs created by others is more usual, or working with yarn instead of fabric has become the norm. There are also regional variations in preferred colour palettes.
Of course, all these 'rules' of rug hooking have been broken by fibre artists! There's nothing stopping us from hooking through chicken wire to make stiff sculptures, or making a looped pile from cassette tape and plastic bags. But the technical standards of the fibre art form are set by our peers using longevity and useability as the goals.
Punch-hooked and rug-tufted pieces have slightly different technical requirements. The technique benefits from a stretchier foundation fabric with a bit of give, for the same reason that the tools are sometimes hard on the artists' wrists, so cotton monkscloth has become the go-to supply for punch needle artists. You're also restricted to materials that will fit through the tool for the rug's pile, so many punch-hookers and rug-tufters prefer to work with yarn that's been loaded onto cones. To my eye, this produces a flatness to the colour palette and a more mechanical look to the loops (which may be the goal for some fibre art pieces - it's fabulous for the pop-art work many rug tufters are creating).
Shearing and sculpting the loops is sometimes done in rug hooking, using a method named for Waldoboro, Maine where many such rugs were historically made. But it's an unusual technique in hooked rugs, partly because cut fabric loops and yarn ends tend to trap dirt which reduces a rug's lifespan.
Rug hooking is a knotless technique, so if a strip is accidentally pulled out of a hooked rug, it's easily rehooked (or re-punched) to repair the piece. This is why coating the rug's back with latex, silicone, or another adhesive -- so common among rug tufters -- makes rug hookers blanch. Once you do that, the rug is no longer repairable! Latex backings also break down into a powder over time, which many people are allergic to. Lining the piece with a flexible plastic coating can trap moisture in the fibres, accelerating their deterioration (This is also why we don't frame textiles under glass.). It's absolutely not required to keep a looped pile in place, and only really needs to be done to prevent a shorn pile shedding bits if you're going very short.
I think the differences in how these techniques are used by fibre artists come down to the time invested to create a piece. Hand-hooked pieces are an investment of hundreds to thousands of hours by rug hookers, so our standards emphasize longevity and repairability, in addition to functionality in the finished work. Rug tufters are instead looking for graphic impact, topicality, and quick turnaround with their fibre art, and so they haven't shied away from commercial rugmakers' tricks more suited to products meant for disposal after a few seasons of use. If your time investment into an artwork is measured in hours or days instead of months, that's a pretty natural difference in perspective.
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