Understanding the Craft Processes- Hand Knotted and Hand Tufted Rugs

Buying something for your home is unquestionably a quest we deliberately ‘love’ to indulge ourselves into. It gives us a sense of relaxation of adorning and taking care of something that is ours. It is the excitement of creating our own new space in our homes that drives us towards this venture.

While there are numerous furnishing accents that can bring this sense of satisfaction to us with regards to or homes, the impact a new rug has on the entire interior cannot be overlooked. Rugs, being a floor furnishing accent act as the base of a room thus, binding all your furniture and other elements in your space together. They lift up the entire ambience in an instant. This feeling of newness is what we all wish to achieve every time we go on a rug hunt.

Hand knotted and hand tufted rugs

However, one thing that we often miss out on is actually gaining apt information about the rug we are buying. Often times, we end up going for the most inexpensive available in the market without knowing everything that went into making the rug. Every time we buy a rug for its design schemes, material, and its quality, we should also consider all the hard work of an artisan or a group of them into actually bringing it to life. This stands true especially in the case of a hand knotted or a hand tufted rug. Hand knotted rugs are crafted by creating several knots per square inch by a single artisan. The knot count goes higher depending upon the design elements and the desired pile density. Moreover, hand knotting is a traditional craft of rug making that has been passed down for generations to craftspeople but due to a variety of mass production techniques, and job opportunities, more and more craftspeople are now opting for other higher paid alternatives. This means that every time you buy a hand knotted rug, you are supporting a beautiful dying craft that needs preservation. These are some of the reasons that make hand knotted rugs more expensive than machine produced rugs, or even the tufted ones.

On the other hand a hand tufted rug, is a much lesser strenuous art, which requires lesser skills. Hand tufted rugs usually only require a few weeks depending upon the complexity of designs compared to the hand knotted rugs which take up to 5-9 months. For this reason, you can find a wide range of inexpensive options for hand tufted rugs in the market if you are on a budget.

 

Tools and techniques

There are several tools that are required to bring a rug to its actual magnificent being. The craftsperson requires various different tools to craft the rug such as a knife for cutting the yarn as the knots are tied; a comb-like instrument with a handle that is used to pack down the wefts, and a pair of shears for trimming the pile after the row of knots are finished. Tabriz, a type of hand knotted museum rug, an artisan combines the hook with a knife to tie the knots to expedite the process. Sometimes, a steel comb is also used to comb the yarn after each row is completed.

There are a few additional instruments that are used by a craftsperson to pack the weft. In Iranian weaving style, these tools are widely used. In Kerman weaving styles, a saber like instrument is used horizontally inside the shed. In the Bijar rugs, a tool that appears to look like a nail is inserted between the warps and beaten on to make the rug look more compact. These rugs are also known for their wet loom technique, which involves wetting the warp, weft, and the yarn with water during the process of weaving. This makes the yarn even more compact, soft, and durable. Once the yarn dries out, it expands, resulting in a very plush and stiff texture.

Depending on how the rug is trimmed while the weaving develops or as the rug is finished, a variety of instruments can be used to shear the wool. In certain Chinese methods, the yarn is trimmed after it has been completed, and the trimming is slanted where the colour changes, creating an embossed three-dimensional look.

Choose the best collection for your home or office and buy carpets online today.