Hand-made carpets are traditionally more expensive than those made by machines. Though there are several carpet-making methods, including braiding, hand tying (or hand knotting), hooking, shearing and tufting, the most common of these are braiding and hand knotting.
Braided carpets are done by connecting or tying strips of fabrics together. Hand tying or hand-knotting are usually done on rugs. Countries that are known to produce beautifully crafted hand-knotted rugs include Spain, Portugal, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan and Japan (among others). Hand-knotted rugs are descendants of Oriental Rugs and can be made in any shape, size, coloured or design.
Process
The process that creates a hand-made/hand-knotted carpet can be explained as under: |
Wool sorting & Washing
Wool is either imported or is bought from nearby markets and is carefully sorted to pick out unwanted particles. Wool often carries dust, grease which is removed by washing it thoroughly and is then sun dried for two-three days.
The Tibetan wool has a strong good fibre length is imported in scoured form, good lustre and a high resilient value. The New Zealand wool is of 36 micron, 100 mm barb length and is identified as type 128. British wool meeting regulatory standards have also started being available in the market. | |
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Carding
The carding process allows the fibre stand to flow smoothly when spinning. This is also the stage for blending different wools and to ascertain the ratio of different origins. Traditionally, carding was performed by hand and machine carding was introduced when the industry grew. However hand carded product is still available if a customer so desires. | |
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Spinning
The carded wool is spun into yarn by using a charkha or a spinning wheel. The thickness of the yarn depends on the quality of the carpet and generally a 3 ply yarn is used. | |
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Dyeing
The traditional pot dyeing method has been largely replaced by machine dyeing in closed Chambers. Dyes containing harmful substances such as AZO are banned and dye-stuffs from renowned international manufacturers are used. These dyes have a high degree of fastness. Depending on the weather, the dyed yarn has to be dried in the sunlight for one to three days. Pot dyeing and vegetable (natural) dyeing are still being used by some manufacturers. | |
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Carpet Knotting
Knotting is an art. Weavers who weave on a regular basis have a very good speed in knotting. They tend to develop this speed over a span of time. One or more weavers work on a loom depending on the size of the carpet. Each weaver makes individual knots row after row. The designs are chartered out on a graph and a map reader or another weaver instructs the graphic designs to the ones knotting the carpet. The dyed yarn is made into balls and scissors, iron rod, levers, comb beaters are used as tools. | |
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Trimming
The finished carpet is taken off from the loom and the designs & patterns are trimmed by scissors. | |
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Washing and Drying
The trimmed carpet is washed with the fresh water & chemicals. The washed carpet is dried in the sunlight up to four or five days. | |
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Final Touches
The dried carpets are given final touches by re-trimming and stretching, where ever necessary. The purpose is to bring the fabric woven in level at the surface. | |
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Packing
All washed carpets are rolled and wrapped in polythene sheet and is sealed at each end. Again, it is wrapped in Hessian cloth and sewn. Generally, around 14m2 are packed in each bale. | |
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Payment
Export proceeds must be received through an irrevocable letter of credit (L/C) or advance payment. |
