Carpets Cleaning

When it comes to cheap carpets cleaning an oriental rug, you need to be careful. The first step is preventative – take your shoes off when you come in from outdoors, especially if the rug is in a high traffic hallway. The second step is to determine how dirty your rug is (other than obvious stains). You can pick up a corner and smack it or beat it & see if a bunch of dirt or debris flies out in a cloud – if so, you are probably ready to have your rug cleaned. As it is strongly advice that you get your rug expertly & professionally clean as it requires stretching & repiling after drying. You’ll want to find someone that specialised in Oriental rugs, not just wall to wall carpet cleaners or dry cleaner who have no understanding of the material or dyes used which could result into discolouring or even colour run eventually destroying or damaging a master piece of art. We at Samad’s have a team of specialist who will cater to all your carpet needs.

Carpets Repairing & Restoration

We provide home service to view the rug and provide the estimate impairing our knowledgeable skills, background & explained thoroughly how he would restore & clean it but unfortunately we are not able to give a estimate over the phone as every Carpets repair or restoration differs & the requirement could be very different for every rug.It takes years to master the art of rug repair and you should take your rug to a professional rug repairer who uses a lot of practice to refine his skills and expertise. We have a long history in all types of area carpets repairing and carpets restoration, as well as the tools, skills, and experience to re-weave, re-knot and re-fringe your damaged rug back into shape and prevent further damage.

Oriental rugs experience a great deal of wear and tear, due to daily use. The decorative fringe & binding along the edges & ends often unravels or becomes detached from the body of the rug. Owners of handmade or valuable rugs should have the fringe repaired by a professional, which is often a lengthy & expensive process but a necessary requirement.

Underlay

You will want to be sure to purchase a rug pad when you buy your oriental rug. It should have the same footprint as your rug. A rug pad protects your rug and extends its life and prevents slipping on smooth floors. You can get an 8X10 rug pad for about $3 to $5 to $10 a square feet, While walking on your carpet at home it feels kind of spongy and nice, just like floating on air. That spongy feeling is the carpet underlay & here are a few good reasons why every home should have carpet underlay as its cushioning helps dull those sound waves so your rooms will not be so noisy. On top of that, it is hidden underneath your carpet and it is actually protecting it, it also stops the rug from sliding & furniture load. This are only some of the reasons why you should always invest in a good underlay. Preventing wear & tear to your beautiful rug while enhancing the feel and protecting your child if they trip or fall on it.

Quotation

Free & with no obligation, just a friendly service with helpful advice.

Tips

To keep your rugs looking younger, rotate them every year or so. Such that areas will get worn more evenly – no rug looks good when a worn down walkway becomes evident. The same things goes for sun – if the sunlight only shine on one corner of your rugs, shift them around occasionally so they will fade and age equally.

Rugs Health & its Benefits

Which Benefit of an Rug is the Most Important One for YOU? You Decide!

There are unlimited benefits of rugs… it may be hard to pick just one feature over the others.

Beauty

Rugs are a great way to personalize your home & office environment. They add color and artistic expression, a great sense of beauty will certainly help to define the mood or character of a room or home. There is only so much you can do with walls, but there is almost no limit when it comes to using rugs as part of your decorating plans. We like to describe rugs as a practical, comfortable, functional piece of art for the floor!

Comfort

Whoever has not enjoyed the feel of a good rug underneath their bare or stocking-covered feet has missed out the greatest essence of feel. A hardwood or tiled floor may be nice but they just cannot match the comfort of a rug. Rugs can give a room a warm, cozy and inviting feeling for you and your guests too.

Versatility

One of the greatest benefits of rugs is that they can help to create themes, dividing a room into different areas or bring different elements together. Most rugs can be moved or re-positioned in a matter of moments and can go with you when you move, and that is an important benefit for renters.

Safety

When used with a rug pad, it provides a stable and non-slick walking surface that helps to protect against injury from impact and keep the manner of carpet cleaning. This can be very important if there are young children or seniors in the home. Area rugs can also help to protect against the unwanted furniture movement when used under tables, chairs and sofas. You will appreciate that aspect if you have ever had a chair slide on a hardwood floor as you were sitting down.

Sound Reduction

Noise is the most bothersome when there are too many hard surfaces in a room, especially when things like radio, stereo, television and telephone are added to the mix. Rugs help to absorb and reduce noise, whether it is in the home or office. Also, noise between floors in a house or apartment building may be reduced with rugs.

Health

The great benefit of a rug is that it prevents arthritis & prevents the cold floors from damaging your bones.

Clearing the Air

Carpet is not just a stylistic choice; it is a safe, cost-effective choice for virtually any indoor setting.

Acts an allergen trap

Simply put, what falls to the carpet (common dust, pollutants and many things that we breathe) tends to stay on the carpet until it is vacuumed for carpet cleaning. Unlike smooth surfaces that allow dust and other allergens to re-circulate, properly maintained carpet leads to improved air quality and a healthier indoor environment. In a government study in Sweden, when carpet was banned from public buildings and replaced with smooth surfaces, the allergic reactions of people increased as the usage of carpet decreased.

Lowest emitter of VOCs

Another indoor air quality issue involves the emissions of volatile organic compound (VOC) levels from building materials. Carpet is the lowest VOC emitter of common flooring choices and one of the lowest emitting products used in new construction and renovation, much lower than products such as paint. The already low VOC emission of new carpet drops significantly after 24 hours, even sooner with fresh air ventilation.CRI offers Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. to indicate carpet, cushions and adhesives that emit low VOCs.

About mold

Mold grows in any moist environment where dirt and dust provide nutrients. It does not grow on dry, clean synthetic or wool carpet.Improperly maintained heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) units are the leading sources of mold spores. Shutting off the HVAC system at night or otherwise extending periods of system downtime increases relative humidity, encouraging mold spore growth. Reactivating the system thrusts spores into the air.

The good news is that you don’t have to pick just one feature over the others because the benefits listed above apply to almost all rugs!

Material Breakdown

Wool

There are 3 different standards of wool grading done which includes six market grades & numerical count system divides the wool into 14 grades, designated by a number. This originated in the 18th century in England and is based on the number of 560-yard skeins that can be produced from one pound of clean wool top.

The Manufacture Of Silk Waste ( Originally Published Early 1900’s )

Sources of silk waste.-In the production and manufacture of silk, a large part of the cocoon fiber is unfit for reeling or working up into the finest grades of silk fabrics. As in the manufacture of cotton and wool, there is a considerable waste of raw material in the many processes and machines that are required. This so-called waste is by no means wasted. It is all carefully collected and used in the manufacture of goods differing only in grade from the highest priced fabrics.

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber & the strongest natural material in the world. (For more imformation, go to Silk Rugs)

Cotton

Cotton comes in several types, depending on the way it is grown or processed. There are three grades of processed cotton – low, medium, high & within this its divided in 16 grades. The lower grades are used for mass produced items, and the higher grades are better for the high quality, luxurious and soft products. There is also an organic grade made from cotton grown with no pesticides or fertilizers.

Handspun or machine spun weave

This is only applicable to wool on wool carpets. Machine spun wool is much tighter spun than handspun, one would think this is a good thing but because it is much tighter, and wool is not very strong, many of the wool fibres will snap while they do this, which then limits the lifetime of the carpet. Handspun increases the hours of labour and the price accordingly, but it is not spun as tightly as machine spun so the lifetime of the carpet is longer. Now, how to tell whether your rug is handspun or machine spun. The only way to do this is to flip the carpet over and look at the weave. If all the little squares are exactly the same size, then its machine spun. If there are differences in the sizes of squares then it is handspun. It is very difficult to find handspun carpets, especially in the big cities.

Natural Dyes

The ability of natural dyes to color textiles has been known since ancient times. The earliest written record of the use of natural dyes was found in China dated 2600BC. Chemical tests of red fabrics found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen in Egypt show the presence of alizarin, a pigment extracted from madder. In more modern times, Alexander the Great mentions having found purple robes dating to 541BC in the royal treasury when he conquered Susa, the Persian capital. Kermes (from the Kermes insect) is identified in the bible book of Exodus, where references are made to scarlet colored linen. By the 4th century AD, dyes such as woad, madder, weld, Brazilwood, and indigo and a dark reddish-purple were known. Brazil was named for the wood found there.

Purple was made from a mollusk and clothing made from it was so expensive only the royal family could afford it. It was extracted from a small gastropod mollusk found in all seas or from a crustacean called a Trumpet Shell or Purple Fish, found near Tyre on the Mediterranean coast. Their body secreted a deep purple fluid which was harvested by cracking the shell and digging out a vein located near the shellfish head with a small pointed utensil. The mucus-like contents of the veins were then mixed together and spread on silk or linen. Estimates are that it took 8,500 shellfish to produce one gram of the dye, hence the fact this dye was worth more than its weight in gold. This expensive dye was also mentioned in the bible, in Acts, where Lydia is a seller of purple.

Types of Natural Dyes

Natural dyes can be sorted into three categories: natural dyes obtained from plants (indigo), those obtained from animals (cochineal), and those obtained from minerals (ocher). Although some fabrics such as silk and wool can be colored simply by being dipped in the dye, others such as cotton, require a mordant. Dupont dyes are very popular throughout the world and are used by a lot of professional silk artists. They are considered by some to be the best in the world. Others think Tinfix or another brand are the best. Different strokes, different folks.

Dupont dyes

Dupont dyes have been made by Mr. Dupont in France for 60 years (he must be getting very tired) and are the dye of choice for many because of the wide range and intensity of colors offered, the permanence of the dye and the superior way they lend themselves to salt and watercolor techniques.

These are very concentrated dyes which should always be diluted before use. For silk, dilute with a dilutant, for wool, use an alcohol and water mixture. Depending on the shade desired, dilute from 10% to as much as 50%. When you realize how concentrated they are, they become quite reasonable in price.

Dupont dyes are manufactured without Aniline but do contain Alcohol. Dupont dyes must be set by steaming, and once set, can be washed, drycleaned and are light resistant for carpets cleaning.

Evaluating Oriental Carpet

Handmade or Not? Facts that can’t be ignored!

If you want to buy a valuable Persian Carpet, first of all, it must be handmade. Machine made rugs lacks originality, durability, charm and investment value also the use of syntactic materials, which can be harmful to health.

In other words a machine-made rug is definitely not a real oriental rug. They are simply floor covering which might have taken only a few minutes to complete & by abundance while it took at least 8 months to years for a handmade carpet to be made which is a piece of art as there are no 2 pieces that are alike, each to its own individual. You can tell a machine-made rug because its fringe is attached after the rug is manufactured rather than being an integral part of the rug. You can also pull individual threads from the pile because a machine-made rug does not have knots.So you decide.

Evaluating Oriental Carpets

Evaluating Oriental Carpets is a easy process when you would learn the basics & by doing practises.You need to know how to determine if a rug is handmade or not! By turnning the rug upside down & looking at the back you will see knots & a more distinctly design showing on the back the same as the front or pile .The greater the number of knots, the better the quality of the rug.In other words, the higher the number of hand-tied knots per square inch (KPSI) the finer the piece: (150 knots per square inch is average rugs & a fine rug may have a knot count of 500 or more)Typically, higher knot counts are found in rugs which have floral or curvilinear patterns. The higher knot counts allows leaves, flowers and curvilinear patterns to be woven in a complex manner & curves to be formed with more elegance and beauty which then finally transform the rug to be a master piece or a work of art. A higher knot count rug is often more expensive because the weave is finer & more time has been spent on completing the rug but on the other hand, a rug of different origin & design may be more expensive, even though it has a lower knot count & this is due to labour, material cost, rarity. or age. Keep in mind that knot count is only one of the measure of a rug’s quality & it is the final product that includes design, colours,materials, dyes,weavers contribution,age,rarity & origin that discursive a great rug!

As for geometrical shapes, it tends to have straight lines,angles & do not require that many knots per square inch. Pattern types & desired design assigns the knot size but the knots sizes do not determine the quality of the oriental rug by itself!

Useful and Functional

To understand how valuable the carpets are, it is better to go back to their origin.For a nomad who lived in tents, home is a simple place with a combination of walls, roof & floor. The floor is not just an elaborate structure, with a simple carpet laid directly onto the earth as the rug was a bug-exclude, soil leveller, temperature controller & comfort provider all in one.why not for you?

Rugs are anti bacterial because of natural materials used & it keeps your feet warm in cold days & if you have children, a rug is an amazing dream park for their games & protection from falls.

This is an important point when you will consider how much time they actually spend on carpets.

Valuable Forever

In conclusion, rugs become more valuable as long as you use them and never lose it. It will definitely changes the feeling of your room or home as every rug is unique & a price possession that elevates a lasting beauty that transform with time allowing its owner to feel a sense of pride.

Final evaluation of a rug

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder & that is the true value of this artistic marvels. A quote that a rug valued by the great auction house such as Christie’s or Sothebys at the amount of $100,000 could be sold for $50,000 & a rug valued at $75,000 could be sold for $2,000,000. So you decide!

Also like in most cases the origin of the rugs can be decided by the designs, knotting’s, material & dyes used. However, it is not always the final conclusion as dispute by many dealers who always differ in opinion about this matter due to the nature of the people who weave this rugs as they are nomadic gypsies who move from place to place or hostile war reasons, bringing their skills & weaving methods along with them & also sometimes incorporate designs of other area into their styles. Like a example:- A weaver from Turkey was to weave a rug in Iran using dyes from India & wool from Pakistan.What is the outcome!

Lastly on origin, that seems to be a major factor in deciding the value of a rug but a very simple question, that is if a rug woven in U.S.A or Singapore by a master weaver from anywhere compared to a rug woven badly in Iran or Turkey by a unskilled weaver, which would turnout better & more valuable? You decide! It is always the final product along with classy designing, rarity, age, materials used & weaving quality that decide the true value of a rug but if a rug is woven in the Persian sector along side its culture, vast beauty & experience, it will definitely commands a great value.

Most Expensive Persian Silk Rugs

The world’s most expensive rug may be silk, Persian and four or five hundred years old, but does it really tie the room together? One anonymous buyer seems to think so.

Sold to Christie’s for $4.45 million, the 16th or 17th century Persian rug measures 7’ 5” by 5’ 7”. It was previously owned by Doris Duke, a tobacco heiress who purchased it in 1990 and left it to the Newport Restoration Foundation when she died. It is a record selling price amounts to over $700 per square inch. The most expensive rug’s record may soon be beaten, however, by the storied Pearl Carpet of Baroda. Commissioned in the 18th century by Khanda Rao Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda, the rug is similar to one that decorates the Taj Mahal. Featuring around two million naturally seeded pearls, the rug is embossed with gold set with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. It features three stunning rosettas made of diamonds and silvered gold.

Due to the untimely death of the Maharaja, the rug was never delivered to the destination he had intended for it. Instead of gracing the tomb of the prophet Mohammed, the rug stayed with the Maharaja’s family since its completion.

Now it may fetch a sum as pricely as its pedigree at a Sotheby’s auction in their new office in Doha, Qatar. The expected hammer value for this most expensive rug is $14.5 million.

Just need to make sure your feet is wiped before walking on the most expensive rug, okay?

Facts about Silk and Silk Carpets

There are a lot of people who thought that a silk carpet or rug is not for everyday use and were told that a silk carpet can only be used for watching on the wall.

Both are not (always) true. People, who tell this to customer may talk about a rug knotting but cannot change the fact that silk is the best, strongest, most beautiful & the most expensive material in the world. Those people either do not have a collection or understand about silk.

What are the differences between the named kinds of silk?

Silk Coccons

Here you can see silk coccons

The Silk Filament

The Silk Filament is also named the natural silk. It is originated from the continuous fibre out of the middle of cocoon. This fibre is usually more than 1,000 meters (1093.17 yards or 0,62 miles) long and is in uncoiled condition prior to its manufacturing process. When silk filament has been treated correctly, it is the finest, strongest and toughest type of silk.

The Bourette Silk

The Bourette Silk is product of coarse spinning procedure from short fibre pieces.

The Staple fibre Silk or Chappe-Silk consists of all inferior silk parts dropped off during the preparation process, what is shown on this picture. These silk parts are of different minor qualities and values and after cleaning they will be yarned and turned to Chappe-silk. This fibre differs from other silk fibres by its rough and fibrous surface and it is also called “Strazza”.

 Some characteristics of silk

Silk is the most tough and solid thread produced by nature and it could not been reproduced yet by humans until today.

• It can be stretched about approx. 15% without tearing.
• It can take up up to 30% of its net weight in humidity without feeling wet.
• The surface is stain resistant and insensible with smells.
• It is poor in crease and dries fastly.
• It isolates very well, in winter warmly, in summer chilly.
• It is extremely tearproof and does not chafe lightly.

Rug quality is also determined by the number of knots in the rug . Knots show how much work went into making the rug. More knots mean more work. More knots also make it possible in a greater intricacy in the pattern.

Assuming that an experienced weaver can work on 360 knots per hour, it takes 2 years to complete a 1000-knot per square inch silk rug with a 3′ x 5′ size. For this reason, our items are priceless, and should be cherished as extremely valuable items. A well-made silk rug is durable. That means that if you make a wise choice when shopping for a silk rug, you can count on having it for a very long time.

Silk Rugs are beautiful pieces of art, following a route known later as the Silk Road, reached the distant Roman Empire along the coast of the Mediterranean in the 206BC-AD220, enjoying fame as the Land of Silk in the East. Silk carpet making was not a tradition, but it was born of wool weaving of nomadic tribes. While rugs were being woven two thousand years ago, there was not a real industry until the mid-eighteenth century but today as it stands the 3 most expensive antique rugs sold in the world are made of silk.

According to the light reflections, 3 dimensional surfaces of silk show an amazing color change, reason being the system, on the piles & knotting. Silk rugs having over 500 double KPSI which is nearly 1 million per square meter consider to be one of the most difficult handwork, exactly falls in the human eyes as one of the finest items of art & a stylish rug can instantly perk up a room’s look.

Persian Rugs Beauty and Design

Achieving oriental rugs value through the use of design and colour can only be described as an art form. Persia is the genesis of most motifs, patterns and traditional colouration produced in rugs throughout the world today.

Besides, Persian rugs value and its art value seems an unplanned effect but in fact this is an art form that is very dependent on symmetrical patterns, designs and the repetition of these patterns.

One unique aspect of the Persian rugs & carpets is their curvilinear designs. Curved-design weaving is much more difficult to execute than geometrical one.

Today most oriental rugs, whether it is from Pakistan or India, are based on Persian rug designs, and even China, with its own ancient and unique heritage, is now producing rugs with Persian schemes.

Colour painting, design & clearly beauty of the rug depends on if its colour matches.

Imaginative, artistic colouring can mean that a poorly woven carpet or rug is nevertheless delightful. If the colours are wrong even the most technically perfect piece misses. In an oriental rug with beautiful colouring man be rich and dark or clear pastels or even…

Authenticity

Persian rugs have traditionally been considered the most expensive & easily resalable of all oriental rugs, usually the older and more collectible rugs from different parts of the worlds.

If you think that a fine valuable Persian carpet is too expensive,you should consider that it can take a family a year or more to create a single artistic carpet & it can cost $15000 to $40000. That seems like a fair price when compared to other art forms & it can be handed down for generations.

This assumption has generally held true.but there are many other factors to a rug being a collectors pieces.It is strongly advice that a rug should be bought for its beauty & functions which enhances your home, creates an artistic environment & health benefits which can be passed down from generation to generation.

Finesse of the Knots

Valuable Persian hand-knotted rugs are made with single knot. This enables the rugs surface more distinctly & it seems flatter. In fact, if a rug is hand-knotted and not machine-made, its usually feel great in anyway.

Knots per square inch is another important point,as curved lines in a rug’s design can be drawn more smoothly and gracefully in a Persian rug with many knots per square inch, just as a lot of pixels in a television screen allow for more natural looking lines. And also, rugs that are very finely knotted have such dense surfaces that light is reflected from them in an attractive way.

Quality of Materials

Other considerable factor that creates Persian rugs value is its material quality. Natural: animal or plant fibres which creates Persian rug value including Silk, Wool, Cotton, Jute & Animal Hair.

Why natural materials are so important for Persian rug value?

Excellent Durability. Does not contribute to allergies or pollution. Cleans better and stays clean longer. With the combination of natural dyes, they give an artistic value and retains dyes well. Do not fade and do not deteriorate with age like machine-made rugs and carpets and that is why natural materials is so essential in Persian rug value & all hand-made oriental carpets and rugs.

Hand knotted  rug making is an very important business that contributes to the economy of this countries & a great number of people are involved in various processes of the rug making ,which includes the raising & sheering of sheep, collecting of vegetable dyes, competitions of rugs & many other. The actual skills is passed down, generation to generation ,transforming a simple tread to creating amazing hand knotted rugs and carpets

Signature A master designer or weaver will sometimes sign their rugs, but this is not true for all master pieces as a great number of weavers drift away from allowing their trade mark or signature to be stepped upon & therefore a signature never justifies the increase of value but a well made rug always holds its true value.  Signatures & sometimes even dates will be incorporated into design, mostly at the upper edge or middle of the rug, as part of the design or even a trademark.

Process Numberless of people & a very lengthy time taken to complete a artistic impression of a hand-knotted carpet rug, explained &the process are as follows : Wool sorting & washing ,Carding , Spinning of wool ,Dyeing of wool & drying it ,Looming the weft &warp creating the foundation, Hand knotting, Trimming by scissors, Binding the edges , Fringing ,Washing, drying & final touches of  re-trimming & stretching

Part of the rug-making process by Persians is the superior dying process and materials used to make hand knotted Persian rugs. Before being made into rugs, the yarn is washed several times, and, upon completion of the carpet, that same multiple-washing technique is employed.

This is done to secure the colour and to keep it from running. While it is unlikely a Persian rug will fade much, if at all, one will notice that their rugs will age gracefully. The term “Abrash” is used to suggest the slightly uneven hues characteristic of natural dyes. The mellowing of colour is a much sought-after quality of antique carpets. One will not see fading in a Persian rug like they will in rugs of inferior quality.

 

Antiques/Tribal Rugs

The first category of antique belongs to a few Egyptian rugs,a few Persian rugs of the 16th to 18th centuries; a few old Caucasian, some old Turkman rugs of the 17th and 18th centuries; a few old Turkish rugs from the 16th to the 18th centuries such as Ghiordes, Bergama, Ushaks; & a number of Polonaise rugs. This collector items are limited to few people, as they are rarely available to a individual. As these timeless beauty are either in museums, who have large collections or private collections which can only be seen in exhibitions or books & that is why Oriental rugs is considered one of the great arts of all time & a valuable investment.

The weaving of rare old Oriental rugs ranks with painting, music and sculpture, as one of the great arts or collectible item. Rare old rugs are much desired & auction prices paid today have reached heights of millions of dollars, as this timeless art were woven by masters who either did it for their own use or the love of art which inspired with experience & not for the commercial market but there are some who do not appreciate or understand the true value of Oriental rugs, nor can they love the master painters such as Picasso’s or Leonardo da Vinci. The dedication of the weavers also evolved around the use of natural products such as hand spun wool or dyes collected from flowers or trees to weave this master pieces & time taken was never a factor for the completion, only a sense of pride was the final reward for creating a beautiful timeless master piece.

For art collectors and lovers of rare old rugs there ia a limitation, as very few museum quality rugs are available but the rugs of 18th & 19th centuries made for the Orientals own use, will interest the collector, as there are a few good pieces in the market..An antique should be 100 or more years old & most of the real rare rugs offered today are from private collections or estates, with historical background to justify the crave of the collector.The fact remains that there are few left to be bought and within a few years we shall see no more antique rugs for sale.

Semi-Antique Oriental Rugs

It is a known fact that old rugs soften & a blending of colours occurs with a natural sheen creating a specular marvel that is mesmerising to the eyes. A semi-antique is one that follows the traditional old designs and one which has been used in Persia long enough to have somewhat mellowed colours. You will be amazed at the superiority of the rugs made even in 1939 as compared to the rugs of the same type made in 1951 but there are always exceptions.Actually many of them are even more lovelier than some of the real antique rugs,as they are better woven between this period. Most rugs made after World War I, especially during the depression years compared to the same type made after World War II. Finally coming down to rugs made by master weaver who have left behind a trade mark for generations to come due to their skill levels or inspiration to dream beyond the tradition. Such masters deserve a mention & appreciation. This are a few, Seirafian of Isfahan, Hajji Jalili of Tabriz & many others.

Oriental Rug Weaving

Construction Rows of knots are tied on a foundation of warp and weft and become the pile, which consists of upright yarn. The warp runs along the length of the carpet and the fineness of the weave depends on its thickness and the proximity of the warps to one another. When the rug is completed the ends form the fringes, which may be weft-faced, braided or tasseled or secured in some manner. The wefts pass under and over the warps from one side of the rug to another. They are loosely plied or sometimes untied to allow them to be tightly packed to secure each row of knots.

Weaving normally begins by passing a number of wefts to form a base to work on. The knots are tied around consecutive sets of adjacent warps. The fineness of the weave depends on the density of the knots.

Design Village or nomadic rugs generally use traditional inherited designs, which are reproduced from memory. These often have totemic or symbolic associations, but in most instances they are mutated forms whose original significance has long been forgotten. Most sophisticated town rugs are curvilinear designs reproduced from paintings (including pictorial rugs) and the designs are called by the head weaver.

Looms don’t vary greatly in essential details, although they vary greatly in size and sophistication. The main technical requirement of a loom is to provide the correct tension and means of dividing the warps into alternate sets of leaves.Looms can be vertical or horizontal. Horizontal looms are generally fairly small – they are often used by nomadic/tribal people and are easier to transport, as they can be assembled and dismantled quite easily. Vertical looms are undoubtedly more comfy to operate, although they are not transportable and thus, only found amongst sedentary people.

Tools A number of essential tools are needed to operate the loom: A knife for cutting the yarn as the knots are tied. a comb like instrument for packing down the wefts, a pair of shears for trimming the yarn Knots There are two basic types of knots, upon which variations are based. The Turkish knot, which is typically single-wafted, The Persian knot, which is typically double-wafted. In Pakistan, the Turkish knot is often referred to as the single-knot, whereas the Persian knot is often referred to as the double-knot.

Materials The warp and weft of a carpet can be various combinations of wool, cotton, silk, and these materials themselves come in various qualities and textures.

Dyes Until the introduction of chemical colors in the second half of the 19th century, only natural dyestuffs were used, such as the madder and indigo plant, insects, bark, fruit, and other ingenious methods, to produce shades of red and blue. These primary colors could be mixed with other primary colors to produce a wide range of secondary colors.

Although natural colors are fast, they do fade in the course of time when exposed to light and alkalis, but this produces a pleasing, harmonious effect which cannot be equaled with chemical colors.

Chemical dyes fall into two main groups. One is the acid or aniline dye, and the second is the chrome dye. The majority of commercial carpets produced today for the world market are made from chemical dyes, although there has been resurgence in the last few years in the popularity of vegetable dyes.

Rug or Carpet History

Carpets, whether knotted or flat woven are among the best known art forms produced by the weavers from time immemorial. There are environmental, sociological, economic, and religious reasons for the widespread art of carpet weaving among the people from Central Asia to Turkey.
The geographical regions where they have lived throughout the centuries lie in the temperate zone. Temperature fluctuations between day and night, summer and winter may vary greatly. Turks-nomadic or pastoral, agrarian or town-dwellers, living in tents or in sumptuous houses in large cities-have protected themselves from the extremes of the cold weather by covering the floors, and sometimes walls and doorways, with carpets. The carpets are always handmade of wool or sometimes cotton, with occasional additions of silk. These carpets are natural barriers against the cold. The flat woven kilos which are frequently embroidered are used as blankets, curtains, and covers over sofas or as cushion covers.
Carpets are among the most sought after household items all over the world. Their colours, tones, and patterns with traditional motifs have contributed to the status that carpets have maintained since the 13th century. Marco Polo, who travelled through Anatolia in the late 13th century, commented on the beauty and artistry of the carpets.
Carpets in the 15th and 16th centuries are known through European paintings & artworks. These carpets have colours, motifs, and patterns. That are very inspiring & no two carpets are the same; as each one is a new creation due to moods, climate, dyeing, water & other factors. Traditionally unknown women have woven the carpets & this is one art form that is rarely appreciated as being the work of a known or a specific artist but there always are exceptions.

Fact

No one actually knows when the first rug was woven or who was weaver or of which origin or even which country first developed this master skill but one can get a very clear picture from the findings of the oldest excising rug in the world the Pazyryk. What a beauty it is & one can just imagine just by looking at it, that this is skill is at developed level & centuries must have passed before such skills were mastered. Lost in history & time the facts about this artist marvels but a great under statement as we are still privilege by the availably of this beauty through the wanderings of gypsies & the silk route which enable the art to be transformed from Turkey to China forming the great Persian Empire & the birth of the Persian Rug or carpet. What was only privilege to royalties is now available to all but a sense of understanding ,love &respect deems appropriate for this magnificent art works that a transformed just from a tread to a piece of art. Treasure & enjoy this artistic wonders & see it transform over years to being a captivating beauty like no other.

Geometry in Persian Rugs

Geometrically patterned Persian carpets, woven by nomadic tribes, are decorated with linear elements composed of vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, and are formed by a repetition of the same motif. The motif of a carpet can be used to determine the particular tribe, or place of origin.

A pattern, whether in nature or art, relies upon three characteristics: a unit, repetition, and a system of organization.

Symmetry is a fundamental organizing principle in nature and in culture. The analysis of symmetry allows for understanding the organization of a pattern, and provides a means for determining both invariance and change. By varying relationships within patterns where symmetry is expected, otherwise predictable and repetitive patterns may be transformed into great works of art. These variations in design occur in the two main parts of the rug: The field (or ground and the borders, which frame the interior (the field of the carpet). Designs fall into two different categories: curvilinear and rectilinear.
The most common motif for Persian rugs, especially the larger ones, is a large central medallion. Yet, even if two carpets have basically the same design, no two medallions are ever exactly the same. Some experts believe that the medallion designs stems from the very religious nature of the weavers and that their inspiration probably came from the artwork and patterns of domes of the mosques.

Persian Rug Patterns Classifications and Characteristics

1 – Historic Monuments & Islamic Buildings:
Inspired by tile-work, structure and geometric shapes of ancient buildings.
Some Sub Patterns: Sheikh Lotfollah, Mehrabi Kufi, Kabood Mosque, Sheikh Safi Shrine, Zire Khaki

2 – Shah Abbassi special flower, known as Shah Abbassi, set-off by other floral Persian rug patterns and leaves
Some Sub Patterns: Allover, Medallion, Tree, Animal, Sheikh Safi, Embellished Shah Abbassi

3 – Spiral: Spiraling branches around leave. The end of each branch splits to resemble the jaws of a dragon
Some Sub Patterns: Allover Spiral, Interconnected Spiral, Broken Spiral, Medallion Spiral

4 – Allover: All parts of pattern are interconnect usually drawn without the designers hand ever being lifted
Some Sub Patterns:Khatai, Interconnected, Pomegranate Flower, Animal, Twisted Branch, Medallion

5 – Derivative: Patterns of neighboring regions Similar to Persian rug patterns originally woven in Persia
Some Sub Patterns: Afghani, Caucasian

6 – Interconnected (Bandi): A small piece of design is repeated and connected throughout the carpet.
Some Sub Patterns: Ivy, Katieh, mud brick, diamond, Tree, Milk, Sugar, armlet, cedar, Bakhtiari, Majlessi, Rope

7 – Paisley: Head-bent paisley (common in Indian and Iranian patterns)
Some Sub Patterns: Tufted, Deer Horn, Termeh, Saraband, Kherghei, Isfahan Pencase, Kordestani, Eight-bush

8 – Tree: Distinctive for their close resemblance to natural tree forms
Some Sub Patterns: Animal, Green Field, Panel, Cedar, Vase

9 – Turkoman (Bokhara’s):Geometrical shapes & broken lines. (usu. derived from the weavers imagination, not a drawing)
Some Sub Patterns:Gabbeh, Yamouti, Comb, Ghazel Gos, Akhal, Four-Panel, Saddlebag, Spoon

10 – Hunting Ground: Life-like animals
Some Sub Patterns: Tree, Panel, Medallion, Allover

11 – Panel: Multisided panel motif
Some Sub Patterns: Spiral, Koran, Column

12 – European Flower: Original Persian designs with roses in light and dark colors
Some Sub Patterns: Rose, Bijar, Mostowfi, Panel, Bouquet, Rose Nightingale

13 – Vase: A single large vase, or a smaller vase repeated throughout the carpet
Some Sub Patterns: Khatai, Two-Way, Mehrab, Allover, Chain, Haji Khanom, Repeate, Scar Medallion, One-Way

14 – Intertwined Fish: Originally a product of nomadic tribes and enriched by modern designers. Intertwined fish.
Some Sub Patterns: Herat, Farahan, Beehive, Senneh, Kurdistan, Tiny, Fragmented

15 – Mehrab: Representation of the place in a mosque, where the prayer leader stands. Ornamented with pillars, chandeliers & floral Persian rug patterns
Some Sub Patterns: Tree, Vase-Column, Chandelier, Vase, Landscape

16 – Striped (Moharramat):Repeated stripes running the length of the carpet, each stripe with its own motif and color
Some Sub Patterns: Overall Pencase, Tiny Flower (one background color, Paisley (multiple background colors)

17 – Geometrical: Lines, and geometrical shapes (polygons, etc.)
Some Sub Patterns: Connected panel, Medallion, Striped, Scarf Medallion, Plain Ground, Khatai, Star (Mosaic)

18 – Tribal: Oldest & most original Persian rug patterns. Simple creations of tribal imagination, inspired by natural surroundings
Some Sub Patterns:Heibatloo, Ghashghai Paisley, Afshari, Khatouni, Ardabil, Mazlaghan, Khamseh, Saveh, Tafresh

19 – Composites: A composite of two or more of the above patterns
Some Sub Patterns: Twisted Branch Medallion, Chanin Medallion, Interconnected Vase & Spiral, Green Field, etc