Country Living Halloween Spiderweb Rug

Do you have your October 2011 issue of Country Living magazine yet? It’s out there, and it rocks! Just wait until you see the featured pumpkin craft. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous!!
If you turn to page 55, you’ll find the spiderweb doormat I crafted. It’s crazy-easy to make!Here’s the simple step-by-step:

• Purchase thin, black (often named charcoal) indoor/outdoor needle-punch carpet. You can usually buy this by the foot or as large rugs if you are making several. I purchased mine by the foot at the local Orchard Supply Hardware, (California locations only.) It was 26″-27″ wide. You can also purchase by the yard from Caldwell Carpet.
• Buy a Prismacolor white-colored pencil. This pencil comes standard in Prismacolor colored pencil set or you can purchase it separately in most art supply stores and online. You may already have one in your stash!
• Turn your rug over and draw a circle using a handmade compass of string: Tack one end of the string at the rug center point and tie the white pencil to the other end to reach the edge of the rug. Holding the tack secure and gently pulling as you go, draw a clean circle. For an oval rug, tack two nails aprox. 18″ apart at the center of the carpet onto a work surface or piece of scrap board. Tie a loop of string around tacks loose enough to reach the outer edge of the carpet. Holding the white pencil along the inside of the string, begin circling the nails with string pulled tight to create an oval shape. Here’s a YouTube video that will help you understand the concept better.
• With standard scissors, trim out the rug shape.
• Using your white pencil and a yardstick or other long straight edge, begin at any point of the rug, center or off-center, and draw 8 evenly spaced intersecting lines. The easiest way to make your lines evenly spaced is to draw a cross with two lines, then draw lines between those, then more lines between the second set. You know, like you’re cutting a pizza.
• With your white pencil at the center-point, begin spiraling out with curved web lines stopping at each straight line and repeating around in a circle.
• You can stop your webbing lines at any point leaving leggy, straight web-lines to the edge, or continue your curved lines until you run out of rug.
• Dust off any residual white pencil flecks, and spray a coat of Krylon or other clear finishing spray and you’re good to go!This would make a really fun classroom or other kid’s project! Just wait until you see all the other fantastic Halloween projects in this month’s Country Living!!