Handmade Rug Basics

Make of a Handmade Rug

The make of a handmade rug refers to the location where it was woven. Oriental handmade rugs are made throughout the Middle and Far East. The make of the rug can be a factor in the value of the rug if it is a collectible handmade rug.

Category

Handmade rugs are woven by different types of rug producers. These include nomadic, workshop, village and master workshop.

Nomadic handmade rugs are made by the sheepherder tribes who graze sheep throughout Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbakestan, and parts of China and Turkey.

They are typically made on handmade horizontal looms by women, who learn the skill at an early age.

Nomadic handmade rugs are generally quite small because they are made on small horizontal looms.

The village category refers to handmade rugs woven in small villages usually as a family business. They are mostly situated in Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan.

The workshop category refers to shops that employ skillful weavers, usually working under the supervision of a master weaver. The looms are more sophisticated and the work is done from patterns called "cartoons" which lays out how the knots should be applied to the foundation of the handmade rug.

Master workshops are high-end shops run by master weavers. These shops pride themselves in producing highly artistic and finely woven handmade rugs and their rugs often find their way into museums and galleries.

Iran is home to some of the most esteemed master workshops in the world of Oriental handmade rugs.

The Foundation of a Handmade Rug

The foundation of of a handmade rug is the warp and weft threads. Warp threads are vertical threads, while weft are horizontal threads that are woven over and under the warp threads. The warp threads must be tied very tightly to ensure that the handmade rug does not wrinkle. When the rug is complete, the ends of the warp threads are tied off and form the fringes of the handmade rug.

The weft threads are woven through the warp. In finer handmade rugs from the east, two weft threads are woven, then the knots that form the pile are tied onto the warp. The edges of the weft on each side of the handmade rug are called selvedge.

The foundation is usually either cotton or wool, although there are silk rugs made with a silk foundation. Rugs with a silk foundation are much more expensive and not as common.

Pile of a Handmade Rug

The pile of most oriental handmade rugs is made from wool, which comes from the coat of sheep.

There are many breeds of sheep, each producing woool with varying qualities. As a rule of thumb, sheep that are grazed at high altitudes produce superior wool. The somewhat coarse wool of the sheep raised in the Middle East is more durable than fine wool. In its natural state, wool comes in a range of colors, mostly brown, yellow, gray, white and fawn. It can be used without dying, but to create the beautiful patterns of the oriental handmade rugs it is dyed. Silk is the other fiber that is commonly used for the pile of handmade rugs. Silk originally came from China, but is now grown throughout the Middle East and India.

Handmade carpets that are made entirely of silk are generally used for decorative wall hangings, rather than floor coverings as silk require more care to maintain. Very often, a mix of wool and silk is used to increase durability.

Pattern of a Handmade Rug

The patterns used on a handmade rug are categorized by their overall motif or design. There are three main pattern types - curvilinear, geometric, and pictorial. Curvilinear patterns have curves in them and are generally floral or plant motifs. Geometric patterns have straight lines in them. Pictorial patterns show images of people, birds, animals and other scenes from nature.

A handmade rug can have elements of all three patterns in them, but usually one of them predominates.