SILK YARN

Silkworms spew out thread from tiny holes in their jaws, which they use to spin into their egg-bearing cocoons; after a while they turn to butterflies and emerge from their cocoons. After the cocoon is completed by the worms and before they turn to butterflies, the silk farmers kill the worms by putting the cocoons inside the 60 centigrade water or by using the hot vapor. The next step is to classify the cocoons by their quality and putting the same quality groups inside the hot water in order to soften their gums. Then their fibers head will be discovered and the farmers can easily convert them into threads and by doing some special series of operations, these threads will become silk yarn.

The silk yarn which is made from the cocoon is much stronger comparing to the yarn made from wool although it’s a lot thinner and smoother. This fact is the main reason of the distinction between silk carpets and other kind of carpets.

Silk yarn is smoother comparing to other kind of yarns and it’s used mostly for bolding the design. The final height of the weaved silk carpet is too low comparing to the same wool carpet so the final product would look like its bolded which this technique is used to weave silk flowers in carpets of Qom, Kashan and Tabriz.

Beside the extra softness which the silk yarn is gifting to the carpets, the shiny colors are also extraordinary and eye-catching. One of the other unique features of the silk carpet is that by changing your position and moving to the other side of the carpet you’ll see different colors. The full silk carpets of Qom, Tabriz and Isfahan are called masterpieces among Iranian carpets.

DYEING

The traditional dyeing is referred to a process which the silk is colored inside the coloring liquid and the color molecules enter deep inside the silk molecules resulting to have a constant coloring. The color of the final dyed product must not be easily fade by washing or the direct light.

No chemical or industrial materials are used during the traditional dyeing steps and all used is only natural coloring materials. Generally, copper caldrons are used to color silk. There are many kind of herbages possessing the feature of coloring which last to creating many natural colors.

Natural dyeing is the result of the colorful organic, herbaceous and mineral materials which some of them can be received from Indigo, Rubia tinctorum, Cochineal, Reseda, Woad, Tea and Coffee Beans.

The root, the leaf and the peel of these herbages are sources to extract natural colors. The other natural color material sources are organic colors from creature like cochineal insect or Amethyst shell and also the mineral materials like clay.

WARPING

Exactly like carpet weaving which needs special tools, warping also requires its special tools like carpet loom, comb, pattern, warp, wrench, stick, meter, black pencil or marker, nail, hammer; most of these tools are same tools used in carpet weaving and they have the same usage.

Carpet loom is in fact a metal frame which carpet is weaved on it. Carpet looms are available in different models and sizes and they are chosen based on the pattern; the most common ones are horizontal and vertical carpet looms.

The warp is the yarn which warping is done by using that. This yarn is usually cotton, silk or wool which is chosen based on the design and rows number of the rug.

Silk yarns are made from cocoon; because this kind of yarn is delicate and fine, so they are used to warp delicate and fine-woven carpets. It should be noted that the silk yarns have great strength in addition to their delicacy; we proudly use grade 5 silk for all our productions.

CARPET PATTERN

Pattern is in fact a chart which the weaver can weave the desired design by following its shapes and colors. Paying attention to the fact that in warping the number of rows is set based on the pattern so a professional warp winder should be predominant enough on reading the patterns.

From a long time ago till today, the Iranian carpet is as reputable as we can undoubtedly call it the first export product after the oil products. Some of the bold features which can be mentioned are elegance, delicacy, unique design, weave and the wonderful colors of the Iranian carpets.

The main reason of having this position and improving this power during all these years is the attention and accuracy of the production agents including the designer, weaver and the polisher.

The most important step of carpet production is designing as it has a very essential foundation aspect. Any carpet weaver, no matter how professional and artist, needs an accurate and genuine pattern to present a high quality beautiful flawless carpet. Today, many fields related to carpet is taught which designing and dotting are counted as the most important ones. Pattern coloration is as important as designing and those interested are supposed to learn many subjects like knowing colors, colors harmonies and contrasts and etc.

Logically, a practiced carpet designer should have enough knowledge of the carpet designing history to become able to do the primary calculations and designing margins. Carpet designing is counted as an Iranian handicraft which can be called a subset of traditional painting and designing. This art includes designing of all kinds of carpets such as curtain carpets, pictorial, decorative, front carpet, durries and etc.

In the past years, when using pattern papers was not possible, the carpet patterns were provided to the weavers as separate weaved parts. Nowadays, the patterns are designed in two methods: by hand or by computer.

WEAVING

To weave a carpet, warping on the carpet loom is required. After warping, we need to put the pattern in front of our eyes to know exactly how we should continue. Usually, the carpet is weaved from a corner and then its width should be completed which is called row. Each row is formed of warps and wafts weaved up and down creating a design. After finishing each row, we should tie a knot on each wrap and waft and we beat the comb to fasten the knot. This act is done till the last step of weaving a carpet.

CARPET CLEANING

After the carpet is weaved, it should be washed to clear the possible stains and dirt from the yarn; then we make it ready for the next step which is called polishing.

CARPET POLISHING

Polishing is the act of removing the extra remained lint off the new weaved carpet in a way that the surface looks clear, smooth and flat. Polishing the carpet looks the design of the carpet outstanding and beautiful. It’s useful to know that polishing is not only after weaving a new carpet but it’s also a great help to return freshness to the used carpets which look old after years; especially those carpets which have been washed many times using non-standard methods and lost their beauty and freshness.

SELVEDGE

After finishing the first row of the runner, the weaver ties some of the ending warps to the margin using the piles same color as the runner; this act creates the selvedge. The weaver always keeps the pile which they use to spin around the selvedge warps separately beside the loom so each time they can easily fasten the selvedge by spinning and pulling the pile around the selvedge and putting it aside for next use. To strengthen the knots, the weaver would catch the head of the piles and pull them toward himself to make them stable at their places. This step is done carefully when weaving the valuable carpets; even it’s not weird to control this act by using a magnifier.

CARPET

And passing all these processes the astonishing PERSIAN handmade silk carpet can decorate your houses.