Pull a rug
from thread
& intention.
A three-hour guided session where you sketch a design, thread a frame, and tuft your own rug, loop by loop. Bring it home the same day, still warm from the steam.
A way of making that feels slow on purpose.
Tufting is the craft of pushing loops of yarn through a stretched cloth to build a pile, stitch by stitch, row by row, until a rug emerges. It's part drawing, part sculpture, part sewing; the tool does the poke, your hand does the painting.
Walk in with a napkin sketch or an idea you've been sitting on for months. Walk out, three hours later, with a finished piece, trimmed, steamed, and bound. Beginner-friendly, hypnotic in practice, deeply satisfying in the result.
No two tufts look alike. That's the whole point.
Pick your frame, that's your price.
One flat price per guest, with every material, tool, and bit of guidance included. The size of frame you choose is the price you pay, the same rates as our live booking.
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From Siberian burial mounds to your living room.
Tufting isn't new. It's one of the oldest ways humans make soft things. But the version you'll try at Artis House belongs to a very new moment, a quiet revival of craft, slowed down and made welcoming again.
The oldest surviving pile rug.
Frozen in a burial mound for 2,400 years, the Pazyryk carpet emerges in 1949, hand-knotted, impossibly fine, proof that humans have been pulling loops of wool into floors since long before they pulled words into pages.
Rug-making becomes a language.
Whole villages spent generations perfecting regional knots and motifs. Patterns carried meaning: family, prayer, dowry. A rug was an archive you could roll up.
The tufting gun appears.
In Dalton, Georgia, Catherine Evans Whitener revives colonial candlewicking and teaches her neighbors to tuft chenille bedspreads. Within a decade, the industry invents the mechanical tufting machine and carpets the world.
The craft revival.
Lockdowns hand the tufting gun to a new generation of artists on TikTok and Instagram. The practice returns to its roots: slow, expressive, domestic, deeply satisfying. Studios like ours open so you don't need a garage to try it.
Five steps. Three hours. One rug.
No experience assumed. No homework. Your artisan stays with you through the full arc, and a little technology does the fiddly parts so you can focus on the making.
Every session pairs the Artis House Hub, your live guide on your phone, with the Stencil Generator, which turns any photo or idea into a printable tufting stencil and a colour reference guide. You design digitally, then tuft by hand. Technology draws the lines; you fill them in.
Settle in and open the Hub.
Your artisan greets you and gets you settled, then you scan into the Artis House Hub on your phone, your live companion for the visit. It holds your session agenda, a step-by-step guide, and the design tools you'll use next.
⏱ 15 minutesTurn any idea into a stencil.
At your station, you'll open the Stencil Generator on the studio tablet. Upload a photo, describe an idea, or pick a theme, and it renders a clean, tuftable stencil plus a colour reference guide. Your artisan helps you simplify it for a first piece, and we transfer the outline straight onto the monk's cloth.
⏱ 25 minutes
Choose your yarn, load the gun.
Pull colours from our yarn wall, using your stencil's colour guide as a map, or going your own way. We walk you through loading the tufting gun, how to hold it, and a short practice patch to find your rhythm.
⏱ 15 minutesThe meditative hour. Loop by loop.
This is the long, quiet middle. You outline your shapes first, then fill. The gun hums, the cloth fills, the pile rises. Most guests describe it as the most present they've felt all week.
⏱ 90 minutes
Trim, glue, steam, and walk out with it.
We trim the surface even, brush a fabric backing on, steam it, and bind the edges. Twenty minutes later you're holding a finished rug, still warm, wrapped to take home that afternoon. Your stencil and finished photos are saved to your account through the Hub, so you can reorder the design or riff on it next visit.
⏱ 30 minutesEverything you need at the workstation, included.
- Pre-stretched monk's cloth on a sturdy wooden frame
- AK‑I tufting gun, calibrated & ready
- A full wall of wool & acrylic yarn colours, use as much as you'd like
- Scissors, carving shears, & finishing tools
- Fabric backing, glue, steam & bound edges
- Apron, ear protection, all consumables
- One‑on‑one guidance from your artisan, start to finish
- A finished rug in your chosen frame size, wrapped to go home
- Photos of your piece, emailed within 48hrs
The colours you'll tuft with, pulled live, always growing.
These are the real yarn colours on our wall right now. Pull as many as your design calls for, the wall grows as we dye and stock new shades.
Six tools you'll meet, all provided.
You don't need to know any of these by name when you walk in. By the time you walk out, they'll feel natural in your hands.
AK‑I tufting gun
An electric needle that pushes loops through cloth. Beginner-friendly weight, single-trigger control.
Monk's cloth on frame
Tightly-woven cotton stretched on wood. Pre-tensioned to the right tightness, no fiddling required.
The colour wall
Cones of wool, acrylic, and acrylic-wool blend in every family we stock, pinks, blues, purples, neutrals. Use as many as you'd like.
Carving shears
Scissor-style shears for trimming pile flat and sculpting depth. Sharper than they look.
Latex backing
A thin layer brushed onto the back to lock loops in place. Cures while you trim.
Steam iron & binding
Final pass to set the pile, soften the edges, and bind the border before you take it home.
Things first-timers ask.
Click any question to expand. Don't see yours? Reach out, we read every email.
Do I really need zero experience?
Yes, most of our guests have never tufted before. Our session is built for absolute first-timers, and your artisan paces with you. By the end you'll have used the gun, trimmed pile, and finished a rug.
How big is the rug I'll make?
You choose your frame when you book: Small is a 50 × 50 cm finished piece and Medium is 70 × 70 cm, that choice sets your price. Larger custom frames are available on request for an additional fee and a longer session.
Can I bring a custom design or photo?
Absolutely, bring it on a phone, in print, or describe it to us beforehand. Our team will help simplify it into a tufting-ready template before the session. Email us your reference 48 hours in advance for the smoothest start.
What should I wear?
Comfortable clothes you don't mind getting yarn fluff on. Closed-toe shoes are required for safety. Aprons are provided. Long hair should be tied back; we'll have hair ties on hand if needed.
Do I take the rug home the same day?
Yes. Your rug is fully finished, backed, trimmed, steamed, and bound, by the end of your session. We wrap it for the trip home. It's machine-stable; vacuum gently and spot-clean as needed.
How many people fit in one session?
Two to six guests for an open session. Private bookings (couples, groups, corporate) accommodate up to twelve at our Calgary studio. Tell us your group size when you book and we'll pair you with the right room.
Is it kid-friendly?
Children 12 and up can join a session with a parent or guardian present. The tufting gun is electric and we exercise caution; safety briefings happen for every guest, regardless of age.
What's your cancellation policy?
Cancel or reschedule for free up to 48 hours before your session. Within 48 hours, we offer a credit for a future session. No-shows forfeit the booking. Life happens, message us and we'll work something out.
Rugs made here.
Real rugs tufted by first-timers in a single session, yours could be next.