Juan Lopez says he can make pretty considerably any 2-D impression into a fuzzy, fluffy floor covering – other than a single detail. 

“I cannot do stars. That is been my limitation,” claimed Lopez. “One of the initial rugs that any individual requested for, it was their logo and it experienced a bunch of very little tiny stars. I could not even make it seem like a snowflake. It just looked like a furry blob. 

“That’s been the biggest hiccup. I’m fearful of stars to this working day.” 

The good thing is, there are a good deal of other pictures for him to transform into a rug – including kinds that will under no circumstances actually touch the floor. 

“I’ve finished a pair of anime. I’ve finished sports activities style of things,” Lopez reported. “I did a Virgin Mary rug and I was like, ‘are you going to place this on the ground?’ They’re like, ‘no, there is no way I’m going to place the Virgin Mary on the ground.’ I said ‘okay, wonderful.’” 

Lopez commenced generating custom made rugs in early 2021. He uncovered the craft between functioning overnight shifts for Chicago Public Universities. Because previous summer season, Lopez suggests he’s been ready to generate a modest organization that supports himself and his 6-calendar year-outdated son Lorenzo by promoting commissioned models through social media and in pop-up markets. 

Juan Lopez claims he can make pretty much any 2-D image into a fuzzy, fluffy ground covering. (WTTW News)

“I was doing work an overnight position and also using my son to faculty, picking him up from faculty,” recalled Lopez. “The challenging component was just him receiving older and the point that when I was working above in that occupation, I was continuously drained and that child has so much electrical power, so becoming equipped to be dwelling getting ready to be on my very own time has been a massive blessing.” 

Lopez employed video clips he discovered on TikTok and some demo and error to educate himself. 

“I just bought the machine and just form of tried out it,” he reported. “It’s nearly in a sense like tattooing when you are a tattooist, it is a framework and then you kind of trace the framework. And then it was in the summertime when I started out doing different commissions. Folks had been asking, hey, can you do this, can you do that?” 

Lopez is rapid to say he doesn’t think about himself an artist, but he sees…