CARPET WEAVING TECHNIQUES

   The carpets are woven on looms either vertical or horizontal. The vertical looms are more common. They are generally made out of wood or metal. There are three main parts to a carpet:

• Warp: vertical plain colored threads, stretched from loom beam to loom beam on which knots are tied.
  
  
• Weft: horizontal plain colored thread, which runs across the width of the rug, over and under the warp strings and between each row of knots. Weft helps hold rows of knots in place and strengthen the structure.
  
  
• Pile or the knots: different colors are used in knotting in accordance with the pattern. Throughout the world there are many different knotting techniques, the double or gordes or symmetrical knotting is used by the Turks and is also known as the Turkish knot.In this technique each knot is looped around two different warps, both ends are pulled down and cut. The other common knotting technique is used in Iran, China and Afghanistan and is called the non-symmetrical or single knot or Persian knot, where one end of the knot is looped around one warp and the other end comes straight, both ends are pulled and cut.

Design charts
Generally no design charts are used in the weaving of nomadic tribal carpets. Designs pass down from generation to generation. In more complicated designs of the workshop weavings charts are needed for the weaver to do a better job of copying the exact design on her carpet. These are drawn and colored on graph paper and each square stands for a knot. With the help of the chart the weavers know the color to use.

Knife or hook
After each knot is looped around the warps the surplus wool is cut by a knife which is small in size and always placed in the palm of the weaver during the weaving.

Weaver's Shuttle
This is a wooden instrument on which the weft is coiled up. After the row of knots are completed with the guiding of the shuttle the weft goes over and under the warp strings reaching the other end of the width.

Comb (Kirkit)
This is generally an iron or wooden comb specially made to press down the newly tied knots to obtain the desired tightness. After the row of knots are completed the weft passes to the other side, the comb runs up and down between the warp threads beating the knots to get a uniform look.

Scissors
These are special adjustable scissors used to trim the pile evenly after the row of knots are pressed down. They can be adjusted according to the desired pile length with a shim which is screwed underneath the scissors or the shear.

Spindle
There are a number of different kinds of spindles but the most common one is the simplest one which is portable and could be carried around. This consists of a four-sided wooden instrument with a wooden rod going through in the middle and helps to spin the wool into yarn and is generally known as the drop spindle.

Dyes
There are two different ways of obtaining colored yarn to be used in weaving, the natural and vegetal dyes, and the chemical and the anilin dyes. The sources of natural dyes are plants, animals and minerals. This is a very long and hard process and was practiced since ancient times. Most of the nomadic carpets are dyed with natural dyes this is primarily the reason why degradation of colors, called abrash could be seen on nomadic weavings. Anatolia is very rich in vegetation and that is the primary reason why natural dyeing techniques improved in this country. The chemical dyes are generally used in workshop carpets since a uniform coloring is preferred. There is no essential difference between the two dyes durability and beauty wise. Some of the commonly used natural dyes and the colors obtained from them,are:

Motifs
This is the language of the art of weaving. Each motif has a meaning and there are hundreds of motifs, which are accumulations of centuries representing the culture of a society.

Illustration upper left: Eye; A motif used to keep the evil eye away
Illustration lower left: Ram Horn; Symbol of power

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