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All About Carpets & Rugs

How Rugs are Made 

Materials Used

The materials that go into a rug are as important as the design and workmanship. They contribute enormously to the overall impression of the rug – its color, texture, tactile feel, and above all its durability.

Wool

Wool is the most common material used in making rugs, at least in regards to the pile or the flat-woven facing of the rug. Rug wool comes primarily from sheep, although goat wool can be used as well. Wool quality can vary enormously. Some wool is soft and lustrous, with a silky sheen that is enlivened by proper illumination. Some wools are dull and unreflective. Lustrous wool is moist or lanolin-rich, far healthier and more durable than dry wool. One of the most important choices that weavers make is the quality of their wool. It affects the cost and value of a rug, as well as its ability to stand up to use. Some wools, however, are chosen for their fineness, softness, and textural delicacy. These wools come from the neck and belly of the sheep, like Angora wool, or, in the case of Indian Pashmina wool, from the downy layer close to the skin of the animal. Wool may be used for the foundation of the rug as well as for the pile or facing. Wool foundations are particularly typical of nomadic and village weaving. 

Cotton

Cotton is a vegetable fiber derived from agricultural cultivation. It is used most commonly in the foundation of the rug rather than its pile or flatwoven facing. Cotton yarns are stronger and less elastic than those of wool, and weavers can maintain an even tension more easily with cotton yarns. When used for the rug foundation, it makes it easier to produce a straight-sided, evenly-proportioned, tightly-woven rug, and that is why urban and court weavers with high standards of technical precision long ago adopted cotton as the main material for the foundation of the rug. Cotton can, however, be used for the pile or flatwoven facing of rugs. This is done to get an extremely bright white color, since cotton will do this better than wool.

Silk

Silk, an animal fiber made from the cocoons of silkworms, an extremely costly and luxurious material for textile and rug production. Silk cultivation began in ancient China where it was a jealously guarded secret. Eventually its use spread to Persia and then to Byzantium and Europe. The expense notwithstanding, silk pile rugs, even those with silk foundations as well, are not uncommon, although they tend to be high quality pieces in the tradition of court art. Extremely luxurious nomadic weavings will also have some of the pile made in silk. The attraction of silk resides in the fineness of its fibers and therefore remarkably soft, as well as a luminous, reflective quality. Because of this the effect of color on silk is far more intense and brilliant, than the effect of the same dye on even the finest wool. Silk, however, is much more delicate and less durable than wool. Consequently, many less silk rugs are well preserved. This rarity, as well as the basic cost, places antique silk pieces among the most expensive rugs.

Dyes

Like wools, dyes may vary considerably in quality, and they make affect the value and desirability of the rug. Some are rich and saturated, others are soft. But good dye will have a transparent quality that lets the color shine in response to light. When combined with lustrous wool, transparent dyes make the color effects come to life. Inferior dyes are murky and flat. Good dyes are also fast in response to exposure to light or water. Inferior dyes fade in sunlight and run when wet, spoiling the effects of the design. Antique rugs were made with dyes derived primarily from vegetable materials, although some like lac or cochineal were derived from insect shells. All such dyes were properly fixed not to run when wet or to fade appreciably on exposure to light. This fixing might take weeks, especially to achieve rich colors. Early synthetic dyes gave bright colors without lengthy fixing, but they were unstable. Some, like fuchsine purple, faded to grey. Others like aniline red bleed terribly when wet, and they may fade as well. Modern chrome dyes developed after 1920 do not fade or run, but they seldom have the depth and warmth of natural vegetable or insect dyes. Within the last twenty years weavers in many rug-producing regions have succeeded in reviving the traditional technique of vegetable derived dyes.

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