PROJECTS HEDGE MAZE AREA RUG

Give your rug a haircut.

Written by Sean Michael Ragan
TIME: 6 HOURS COST: $30$60

Carpet, " pile, sized for your design I used an inexpensive synthetic from a large chain hardware store. Masking tape of about the same width as your clipper head. I used Frog Tape #82031, 14" 60yds. Carpet tape (optional)

MATERIALS

I once saw a pricey designer labyrinth carpet in a catalog and wondered if I could re-create the effect cheaply by taking electric hair clippers to a piece of ordinary carpet. Long story short: it works. A maze pattern on green carpet is great for the hedge maze look, but your design could be anything!

Computer or pen and paper Hobby knife with fresh blades Hair clipper, electric, wall-powered Battery-powered clippers will probably be underpowered. I used Wahls Designer model #8355. Carpet shears or utility knife Broom and dustpan Vacuum cleaner

TOOLS

1. Measure, measure, measure.

Measure your carpet section (mine was 74"71"), the area you want the rug to ll (74"41"), the width of your shaver head (1.75"), and the width of your masking tape (1.875"). Write it all down someplace.

2. Design the maze.

2a. Verify that you have enough carpet to make the rug you want, and that your masking tape is at least as wide as the head of your clipper. They dont have to be exactly the same, but they should be within " of each other. 2b. Divide the length and width of the area you want to cover by the width of your tape and round to the nearest odd integer. In my case: x = 74" / 1.875" = 39.47 (39) y = 41" / 1.875" = 21.87 (21) 2c. Work out a maze on a square grid that is x by y units (3921, in my case). You can design on paper or in software, or you can generate the maze procedurally. I used John Lauros simple web-based maze maker at makezine.com/go/mazegen.

Sean Ragan

Gregory Hayes

Hedge Maze Area Rug

3. Lay out the grid.

3a. Starting from the best corner of your carpet, adhere a strip of tape all the way along one edge. If one side of your design is longer than the other, lay out the longer dimension rst. 3b. Apply a short spacer strip beside the full strip at each end, to make sure youre spacing the corridors consistently, then add another full strip. Keep alternating full strips and spacers until the total number of strips equals the number of units in your mazes short dimension. 3c. Repeat Step 3b along the other dimension, starting from the same corner, until you have a complete grid covering the full area of your design.

3b

3c

NOTE:
4

If all your walls and corridors are 1 unit wide, you can lay out your maze by cutting single squares from this grid. Otherwise, you can add short tape sections for off grid walls.

4. Cut out the pattern.

Using a new, sharp hobby knife blade, cut out individual squares from the grid to form the corridors in your maze plan. Peel up the cutouts with your ngers and discard them.

Practice on a piece of scrap carpet, and work on a smooth floor thats easy to clean up. No downward force is needed besides the clippers weight.

TIPS:

5. Clip the corridors.

Plug in your clippers and trim the carpet about 2" shorter in the corridor areas. Watch the length of the carpet piles coming off in front of the blade to monitor the depth of the cut. It doesnt have to be too precise. You can try using guide combs on your clippers, but I found them more trouble than they were worth. Oil your clipper blades frequently, and take a break now and again to let them cool off.

NOTE:

The carpet backing may be visible at the edges at first, but a few weeks' use will round them over.

TIP:

If youre installing the rug on a smooth floor, use carpet tape to prevent sliding.

6. Cut to shape.
Following the outside edge of the tape, cut the perimeter of the rug to shape with carpet shears or a utility knife.

Going Further
The tedious bit was not the trimming, but applying the pattern. I considered mounting a projector on the ceiling so I could project the pattern onto the carpet, but the tape trick won out for simplicity and cost. There must be better ways to solve the pattern problem: Chalk? Washable paint? Freehand cutting? Let us know at makezine.com/go/hedgemaze!

7. Clean up.

7a. Remove the tape. Just grab and pull. 7b. Inspect the corridors for shallow areas, bumps, or other imperfections. Touch them up with the clippers as needed. 7c. Pick up the rug, shake it out hard, and sweep up the loose trimmings. Give it a good vacuuming, and youre done.

Sean Michael Ragan is technical editor of MAKE magazine. His work has appeared in ReadyMade, ctMagazin fr Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.
makezine.com

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