Written by David Castriota
Friday, 08 December 2006

One of the the more subjective aspects of judging a rug have to do with assessing its quality and its imperfections. When quality is assessed on the basis of the wool, dyes, and weaving technique, it is a fairly objective process. When the issue turns to drawing style, it becomes more of an issue of taste. The same is true with “imperfections”. Dropped knots, looseness or inconsistencies in tightness are technical imperfections. But are abrash – abrupt changes in color, sudden changes in design, or adjustments in proportion at the corners or the borders or ends of the field to be judged as imperfections, or as changes that are part of the deliberate intention of the weaver, and therefore part of her creative expression?

Some buyers may be put off by such qualities. They may prefer a workshop rug that is perfectly straight, with consistent color and design. But others will appreciate that the personality of the village weaver confronts us every time she inserts a willful twist and turn of color or pattern, or in her struggle to maintain straight proportions in a wool foundation, that that she is in a sense alive in the rug in all such variations or inconsistencies.

Contributed by Jason Nazmiyal
Monday, 27 November 2006
The Wagireh or Sampler rug is perhaps the most enigmatic of carpets. Made as a template or pattern for the design and production of larger carpets, they are generally small pieces the size of a scatter rug or mat. They did not show the entire design, but only the basic or fundamental portion of the various larger decorative elements of the field and borders, along with selected individual motifs, which could then be expanded according to established symmetrical repetitions to produce the complete composition.

Written by Joan Guryan
Monday, 28 August 2006
There are differences between Oriental rugs and carpets woven in the country versus those made in the city. Today many rugs are still woven in small villages, much as they were made for thousands of years, although for the past several hundred years the process has been industrialized.

Did you ever think about the difference between antique rugs woven in the city versus those made in the country? To begin with, the country weaver will use the materials at hand. She probably made her loom and used the wool from her own sheep or those of her neighbors. Perhaps the warp and weft was made from cotton because it was available. Also, it easier to weave a flat and straight carpet on a cotton foundation. She more than likely designed the rug herself, perhaps for her own use, without any intention of selling it. The weave may also be looser compared to that of a carpet produced in the city.

The city rug production was entirely different. Rugs were definitely created for a specific market. Probably one person designed the rug, while hired weavers produced the rug on more commercial looms, made for greater production. The weave was probably tighter, and probably, many more colors were used, or, at least, many more were available.

The country rug probably used no more than 5, or 6 dyes, while the rug produced in the city used at least 10. The country rug was more likely to have a design that was bold and geometric, while the city design tended to be more intricate and highly stylized.

Image by LollyKnit via Flickr

Rug origin: Design vs Structure: The truth of the origin is on the backside of the rug. This is why, when examining a rug, most experts, after looking at color and design, will turn the rug over to determine its origin. They look at the structure of the rug; the warp, the weft, the type of knot.

The weave pattern is often what reveals the identity of the rug.

The design and color on the front of the rug, while it draws much more attention, is not as dependable a source for determining the origin. There was more interchange between groups of weavers’ design styles, than of their structural techniques.

by Joan Guryan