Walk into her living room and you immediately get the feel for the style that inspires artist Jeannine Happe of Two Old Crows. Her love of antiques and primitives transports you to an era gone long ago. From Jeannine’s artistic flare for staging homes with her daughter to her felted animals and the primitive rugs she designs and hooks, what was once old is new again.
Jeannine’s first introduction to rug hooking was many years ago when she came upon a hooked rug while antiquing. She was fascinated by the detail, the colors, and the women who created these old rugs. And so it began.
Jeannine did some research about these rugs and became both intrigued and sad at the same time. Unlike furniture which withstands time, the rugs which were hooked on burlap simply did not hold up. They were made for utilitarian, practical uses and did not hold up well with everyday wear and tear.
Always interested in creative pastimes, Jeannine knew she could conquer this art form. Purchasing luscious wools was like finding the perfect antique. Jeannine says, “There’s nothing more invigorating than the thrill of the hunt.” Color and texture is what moves her spirit in everything she touches. Jeannine’s inspiration comes from her love of antiques and so she incorporates that into her rugs with everything from Americana wide-cut designs to the more intricate McGown-style rugs to the look of old tavern signs.
Brooklyn Bridge, 48″ x 30″, #4- to #8-cut off-the-bolt and hand-dyed wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Jeannine Happe, Blairstown, New Jersey, 2010. Adaptation of a very early oil painting.
Her newest creation, which she premiered at a hook-in run by Heavens to Betsy, is her take on old coverlets. This coverlet design, which comes in at 40″ x 69″, is by far one of her largest creations. She is hooking the coverlet primarily in #8- and 8.5-cuts with some fine lines here and there, and in only 3 colors (in keeping with the coverlets of the past). She said, “I’m attracted to big rugs because of the statement they make when you walk into a room. I’m into instant gratification and prefer to hook in wider cuts, simply because I need to move onto the next design exploding in my head. This coverlet was supposed to be a table runner. I quickly realized it could be gorgeous if it grew and I wanted to hook it myself, so it needed to be a floor rug. There is so much detail in antique coverlets that when my design started to come together I knew that I needed to leave out some of the detail in compiling mine.” Jeannine laughingly says, “The runner will make its appearance in 2017.”
Jeannine, as time allows, will also help others create a rug pattern that is “all theirs.” She created a runner for one client using photos of her favorite pottery and hand carved Santas, and a Native American rug for another who loved to hook but just wasn’t finding what she wanted. She enjoys stepping out of her box and creating designs for her customers.
Durham Cow, 22″ x 16″, 3- to #5-cut off-the-bolt and hand-dyed wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Jeannine Happe, Blairstown, New Jersey, 2007. Adaptation of very early oil painting.
Jeannine hand dyes her wools and will dye different base wools (solids, textures, and plaids) with the same color just to see what she will get. “You would be amazed by how different a color comes out, depending on the base wool. Even the type of water you have can make a difference. Well water verses town water can make a huge difference on how a color looks. I’ve dyed wool with my well water in the morning and followed the same recipe at night after doing laundry all day, and the color will come out differently. But that’s half the fun, and surprises are sometimes even better than what you expected.”
Mambrino Horse, 27″ x 21″, #3- to #6-cut off-the-bolt and hand-dyed wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Jeannine Happe, Blairstown, New Jersey, 2010. Adaptation of very early oil painting.
It is not unheard of when Jeannine gets in a wool-dyeing mood for her to have two pots of wool on the stove and four pots up on two propane camping stoves her husband found for her. Recently she dyed 17 yards of wool in just one day; those that dye wool know that is quite a lot of effort. Jeannine’s wool room, where old jelly cupboards display piles of various colors and shades, reveals how much she loves what she does. Jeannine says, “Pulling out my various dye recipe books and getting the pots up—this must be what a painter feels like when they open up their tubes of paint. It all begins to come together. My color palette is directly related to the color mood I’m in on that particular day.” When asked if she ever has bad color days she says, “There is no ugly color; even an ugly wool can be overdyed into something spectacular. You can always add more color, going from lighter to darker. Even dark wool can be transformed into the perfect antique black. I enjoy pulling the hand dyed wools and color planning a project.”
Winter at Red Mill Creek, 66″ x 36″, #3- to #6-cut off-the-bolt and hand-dyed wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Jeannine Happe, Blairstown, New Jersey, 2013.
Jeannine’s love of wool doesn’t stop at her many hand-hooked rugs. She scours sheep and wool shows for roving that she uses to create her other love, felted animals. Jeannine studies the anatomy and overall appearance of real animals through extensive research in order to create realistic figures, whose expressions are brought to life with real glass eyes and attention to the finest details. Jeannine creates and hand sews their clothes, hand sculpts certain features (such as hands and feet), and adds just the right touches—so much so that the animals look like they could up and walk, hop, or scamper away. Many of her animals incorporate small antique items, such as a mouse in an old leather baby shoe “boat” and a herd of goats pulling a pig in a cart, which was a personal favorite of Jeannine’s. She states, “I took this particular piece to a show secretly hoping that it would not sell. Funny enough, it was the first to go that day.” Jeannine’s felted creatures have been well received at shows and on her Etsy page, with repeat customers, some of whom collect a particular style or animal.
Jeannine resides in New Jersey with her husband Glenn and their three dogs Maggie, Lizzie, and Miss Maya. She was selected as a Designer Craftsman by Early American Life magazine. Jeannine’s patterns can be found via her shop on Etsy “Twooldcrowsnj” or on her website www.twooldcrowsnj.com.