Four or five times a year Bull Street Auctions conducts special imported rug auctions. Each auction contains over 300 hand made wool and silk blend rugs from tribes throughout the Regions of Iraq, Iran, Inda, Pakistan, and the Baltic area.
This is the second in a series of articles describing the history of imported rugs. The first article discussed the development of the art of hand knotted rugs. this article describes how rugs are weaved.
Materials
Wool is the most
common material for carpets but cotton is frequently used for the
foundation of city and workshop carpets. Silk carpets while also mad are less
common than wool carpets since silk is more expensive and less
durable. Due to their
rarity, value and lack of durability, silk carpets are often
displayed on the wall like tapestries
rather than being used as floor coverings.
The Long Weaving Process
To begin making
a rug, you need a foundation consisting of warps strong, thick
threads of cotton, wool or silk which run the length of the rug and
wefts similar threads which pass under and over the warps from one
side to the other.
Weaving normally
begins by passing a number of wefts through the bottom warp to form a
base to start from. Loosely piled knots of dyed wool or silk are then
tied around consecutive sets of adjacent warps to create the
intricate patterns in the rug. As more rows are tied to the
foundation, these knots become the pile of the rug. Between each row
of knots, one or more shots of weft are passed to tightly pack down
and secure the rows. Depending on the fineness of the weave, the
quality of the materials and the expertise of the weavers, the knot
count of a hand made rug can vary anywhere from 16 to 550 knots
(1,020 km/h) per square in
Looms do not
vary greatly in essential details, but they do vary in size and
sophistication. Yet all
provide the
correct tension and the means of dividing the warps into alternate
sets of leaves.
The Horizontal Loom is the simplest
form of loom is a horizontal; one that can be staked to the ground or
supported by sidepieces on the ground. This style of loom is ideal for
nomadic people as it can be assembled or dismantled and is easily
transportable. Rugs produced on horizontal looms are generally fairly
small and the weave quality is inferior to those rugs made on a
professional standing loom.
Vertical looms
are undoubtedly more comfortable to operate. These are found more in
city weavers and sedentary peoples because they are hard to dismantle
and transport. There is no limit to the length of the carpet that can
be woven on a vertical loom and there is no restriction to its width.
To
operate the loom, the weaver needs a number of essential tools: a
knife for cutting the yarn as the knots are tied; a comb-like
instrument for packing down the wefts; and a pair of shears for
trimming the pile. In Tabriz the knife is combined with a hook to tie
the knots which lets the weavers produce very fine rugs, as their
fingers alone are too thick to do the
The Two basic knots
are used in most Persian
Carpets and Oriental
rugs: the symmetrical Turkish or Ghiordes knot (used
in Turkey, the Caucasus, East Turkmenistan, and some Turkish and
Kurdish areas of Iran), and the asymmetrical Persian or Senneh knot
(Iran, India, Turkey, Pakistan, China, and Egypt).
To make a
Turkish knot, the yarn is passed between two adjacent warps, brought
back under one, wrapped around both forming a collar, then pulled
through the center so that both ends emerge between the warps. The Persian knot
is used for finer rugs. The yarn is wrapped around only one warp,
then passed behind the adjacent warp so that it divides the two ends
of the yarn.
Knot density
is a traditional measure for quality of handmade carpets.
It refers, quite simply, to the number of knots
per unit of surface area - typically either per square
inch or per square
centimeter.
For two carpets
of the same age and similar design, the one with the higher number of
knots will be the more valuable. With more than 30 knots per square
centimeter (1 sq cm = approx. 0.155 square
inch), the carpet pattern will have less pixelation.
The carpet's surface will also feel more solid and will give better
protection against aging.
A Persian
carpet with fewer than 30 knots per sq cm is generally
considered an average to low-quality carpet, while over 50 indicates
a fine piece of work.
Hand-tying of
knots is a very labour-intensive task. An average weaver can tie
almost 10,000 knots per day. More difficult patterns with an
above-average knot density can only be woven by a skilful weaver,
thus increasing the production costs even more.
Bull Street Auctions is located at 2819 Bull St in Savannah, Ga. Auctions are held every two weeks.
Bull Street Auctions specializes in Estate Sales and Liqiudations; we also provide moving and clean out services. We are always seeking consignments of antique and quality used furnishings, rugs, chandeliers and collectibles.
For further information go to www.bullstreetauctions.com or call 912 443 9353
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