Daily Inspiration: Meet Alexandra (Alex) Croft

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra (Alex) Croft

Hi Alex, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For 17 years I did hair, created a curriculum to teach apprentices, and even owned my own business. But at the end of 2022 I got incredibly burnt out and had a breakdown. I was completely lost, had to quit, sell my business, and I had no idea what I was going to do. I languished for quite a few months trying to figure out what would bring me joy, make me excited and motivated again. During my down time I began to see videos about this thing called rug tufting. Soon I was watching hours of rug tufting videos daily. I had done embroidery, punch needle, and a little crochet so I was familiar with fiber arts already. Eventually I started doing serious research and really getting excited about the idea of rug tufting. At this point it was only meant to be a fulfilling hobby. So in 2023 I finally ordered a tufting gun and all the necessary supplies to get me started. My researches had payed off and I started rather strong. My first rug was a black and white scull and to my surprise it actually turned out looking the way I wanted it to! I gave away my first few rugs then I started throwing some up online just to see if there was any chance I could sell them. To my shock all the rugs I listed actually sold! I was pleasantly surprised and incredibly motivated at that point. I got a few custom rug commissions and began to think, maybe this is my new calling. I had always considered myself a bit of an artist between my hobbies and the artistic side of doing hair but this, I started to think, could really lead me to being a full time artist artist.
From there I applied to be a vendor at an art market in the summer of 2023. I was accepted and brought about 8-10 tufted rugs, a table, and a chair and had no idea what to expect. The event went better than I ever could have imagined and I just ran with that momentum. After that one I began doing markets and arts festivals regularly and my online sales only grew.

Now I’m in my home studio every day. I love every aspect of making tufted rugs but especially commissions. It’s so rewarding to take someone’s design and turn it into a rug. My hair experience has also come in very handy. I utilize my color theory knowledge when choosing yarn colors. I was already very comfortable and familiar with scissors. Bringing out each shape and nuance within a rug design requires different kinds of carving at various degrees/angles and I lean on all my years of experience with clippers. My time doing hair definitely helped bring me to where I am today. The process is also very meditative. The gun basically punches yarn into a canvas then I create row after row of stitches and having all of those stitches turn into a full rug is very satisfying. But carving is my favorite part. It’s very zen to take a mess of yarn with different colored strands all interspersed with other colored strands and patiently move each strand where it’s supposed to go and carve out each line and different color until it’s smooth and crisp. It’s a very difficult yet rewarding experience. There’s plenty of weeks where I work more hours than I did in my old career but no burn out or unmanageable stress anymore. I am pleasantly fulfilled, challenged yet confident, dare I say happy.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My own mental wellbeing is always the major obstacle. I struggle with mental illness, like so many, and it affects every aspect of my life, especially work. I have to be very careful with my time. I’m a bit of a workaholic which becomes difficult when you love what you do for work. I have to schedule breaks or I literally just wouldn’t take them. I have to check in with myself often, think critically about what I am doing and how it makes me feel. Connecting with my feelings is tough for me but I’ve learned it’s necessary to my overall wellbeing.

I joke that the best and worst thing about me in regards to tufting is being a perfectionist. I have many iterations of a piece being done. Most pieces will be “done” 3 different times. The first “done” is when it looks pretty good after the initial work on it is concluded. The second “done” is when I go back and scrutinize every aspect of the design, making improvements where necessary. The third “done” comes after I’ve not looked at the piece for at least a day so I can come back to it with fresh, critical eyes and that is when the final perfecting is completed. This requires me to take my time which is anxiety inducing but very necessary.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I create hand tufted rugs. Tufted rugs are made with a tufting gun. This gun is fed yarn and it literally punches the yarn through a canvas which creates a stitch. Then I create rows of stitches with different colors, in different shapes creating the design I’ve chosen. The first aspect of tufting is choosing the right design. Yarn is chunky so although I will carve my rugs I have to make sure the design I’ve chosen will look good as a rug. I often vectorize photos because it creates the design out of blocks of colors which suites tufted rugs well. Portraits are a great example. I can take an image of a person or pet and with simple vectorization I can convert that image into a tuftable design.

Crisp, super defined rugs are my specialty. Carving is not a requirement and many artists create beautiful rugs where the yarn is a bit more wild and each color of yarn is interspersed with the surrounding colors of yarn. But for me, I like very clean rugs where each aspect is well defined. I want the rug to look very uniform and cohesive. My goal is for the finished rug to look as close to how the given design would look on paper as possible. I strive for flawlessness which is kind of funny in regards to art. But I think the creativity aspect comes from the fact that I am literally creating a whole new thing. Even when I’m working with familiar image, I have to take that image, alter it, and recreate it out of canvas and yarn. Admittedly I’m a complete perfectionist when it comes to execution. Every stitch needs to be in its rightful place. Every shape must be perfectly balanced. Every line perfectly straight. The problem with a pristine rug though is that every element has to be as close to perfect as possible or the whole piece could look off. There’s no room for error. But I enjoy that challenge. I’ve learned that I kind of need to be challenged to be satisfied with my work. One of my favorite things is when I get to take on something new that I’ve never done before and is totally out of my comfort zone. It’s exhilarating and motivating.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
My journey into the world of fiber arts came after Covid. But I think the lockdown really caused me to be self reflective and analyze my life and how I felt about it. I lived in Chicago and realized I wasn’t happy or fulfilled in my work or even in my city anymore but at that time I didn’t know what to do. I had no idea that a year or two later I would be quitting my job and starting all over again. I never could have imagined I would be a rug tufter and absolutely love living and working in Kansas City.

Pricing:

• Price is based on size and level detail in a design, Most rugs are priced based on a sliding scale of $35-70 a sq ft. The level of detail dictates where on the sliding scale the piece will be priced.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/croftcreates?igsh=eHV3dWp1Y2pmNW90&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/CroftCreates
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@croftcreates?si=06SK0MSiiGyOoSrQ
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@croftcreates?_t=8r7tFxxjbcw&_r=1