What material is the piece made out of?
Wool and/or silk are the only materials a real Persian rug will ever be made out of. Wool is sheared from sheep yearly. Wool and/or silk are the only materials a real Persian rug will ever be made out of. Wool is sheared from sheep yearly. This practice is 100% cruelty-free. Some artisans craft Persian rugs from natural silk, which has been harvested from silk caterpillars. Some use bamboo silk which is an alternative method that produces nearly the same result. Natural silk is NOT cruelty-free! Around 2,500 silk caterpillars must die in the process of retrieving 1 pound of silk. There are other synthetic materials on the market. A true Persian rug will never be made of polypropylene, nylon, acrylic, viscose, jute or any other material.
Silk yarn makes the most beautiful, durable – yet in some ways delicate – rugs and broadloom. Just like with apparel, interior fabrics and linens, being made from real silk is a sign of quality and high fashion. Real silk, of course, comes from the silkworm; but did you know that it is spun by the worm as a covering for its cocoon, which generally is the size and shape of a small egg. When harvested, the cocoon “egg” is boiled in water, then a loose end is found and the silk is able to be unwound from the cocoon onto a spool in one, continuous strand without the fiber breaking – right down to the last inch. A strand of nylon that thin would snap over and over if it went through the same process. Then, a large number of silk fibers are spun together into thread or yarn. Real silk has a unique luster, but it’s not really shiny. The dyed colors are rich and clear with a subtle glow. And its softness is unmatched by any other fiber. But silk can be tough to take care of; cleaning methods need to be delicate. The fiber is weaker when it’s wet and if stretched it won’t snap back. Direct sun can cause colors to fade and the fiber can break down. In spite of these issues, a well-made and well-kept silk rug can last for hundreds of years. Silk rugs have been found in tombs dating back as long as 2,500 years and are perfectly beautiful and usable. Faux Silk: Many plant fibers can be processed to look and feel like silk. The most common fibers are cellulose-based (from wood pulp or cotton). Cellulose is the main source of paper. But to make fiber it is made into a liquid, called viscose, extruded into fibers (through a nozzle much like a shower head) that are then spun into yarn. The first artificial silk was Rayon. Another that has been around a long time is mercerized cotton. Many other plants are used as a source of cellulose to produce faux silk; such as bamboo grass, banana trees or soybeans.
Faux silk is also called banana silk, bamboo silk or “art silk”, short for artificial silk. All offer the look and feel of real silk but they are best used as accent colors or small parts of a design mainly because they are so ill-prepared to receive moisture. When dampened, the fibers swell up and “bloom”. They do not fully recover when dried and can be further distorted if rubbed when trying to dry them. From then on, those fibers will always look different than the surrounding fibers, usually darker as if they were soiled. Imagine leaving a sweat ring from a glass on a piece of paper. No amount of drying or blotting will make it disappear. The texture and apparent color in that spot will always be different than the rest of the paper. That’s what happens to faux silk when dampened. While silk and faux silk have serious drawbacks with regard to getting wet, they do make for an elegant luster in parts of a carpet or rug; and they have a genuine softness that cannot be matched. For overall softness, if desired, the best use of silk or faux silk is to blend the fibers with wool – no less than 50% wool. This will create a very soft carpet or rug and the wool will protect the weaker fiber from showing color or textural change when dampened.
History of Silk Carpets
Silk Carpets and area rugs are the most luxurious productions of their kind. The silk textile production began in China, although silk rugs are unattested there until the seventeenth century. Silk textile manufacture was well established in Persia by the Sassanian Period (third to seventh centuries). Consequently, it would have been possible for the Persians of this period or those of Early Islamic times to have adapted silk to rug production. But it is so far unclear whether China or the Islamic Orient initiated the manufacture of silk carpets. At any rate, the earliest extant of all the antique handmade silk rugs are in fact the handmade Persian silk rugs of the Safavid Period. Eventually rugs with all or part silk construction came to be made in virtually all Oriental rug – producing regions – Persia, Turkey, Turkestan, Tibet, and China. In the finest examples, not only the pile but even the foundation (wefts and warp fringes) are made of silk. Silk rugs are luxurious not only because of the fine texture and the reflective, luminous properties of the pile, but also because of the quality of their color. Silk allows the dyes to achieve a richness and intensity that can never be matched by even the finest wool.
Silk is a magical fiber that is unbelievably thin and astoundingly strong. Even when silk highlights are used to add definition to ornate designs, the complexion of a carpet or textile can change completely. The hand of silk rugs and textiles is rich and sumptuous. These traits are matched by the luminosity of colors when light is reflected by the fiber’s prismatic structure. Silk is lithe yet exceptionally durable. As a commodity, it built the world’s most famous trade route and created immortal legends. Today, silk is still the ultimate luxury fiber. The intrinsic value and beauty of silk is destined to outshine all other natural and synthetic fibers known to man.
The Unmistakable Look of Antique Silk Rugs
Silk rugs have an unmistakable luminescence, sheen and sumptuous soft texture. This luxurious fiber has a magical effect when used to craft rugs or when used as decorative accents to give designs a shimmering glow. Thinner than a human hair, silk fibers have a crystalline structure that refracts ambient light and produces the sleek shiny look that this natural fiber is known for. Although the process for unwinding thousands of feet of silk from a cocoon is tedious, the stunning result is well worth the labor. These magnificent carpets were produced extensively in India, China, Persia and Turkey. Handmade silk rugs have an incomparable beauty and luxurious appearance that makes them exceptionally desirable. When displayed on the floor or on a wall, silk rugs make an impressive statement.
Traditional skills of carpet weaving in Kashan
Long a centre for fine carpets, Kashan has almost one in three residents employed in carpet-making, with more than two-thirds of the carpet-makers being women. The carpet-weaving process starts with a design, elaborated from among a series of established styles, including motifs such as flowers, leaves, branches, animals and scenes taken from history. Woven on a loom known as a ”dar,” the warp and woof are of cotton or silk. The pile is made by knotting wool or silk yarns to the warp with the distinctive Farsi knot, then held in place by a row of the woven woof, and beaten with a comb. The Farsi weaving style (also known as asymmetrical knotting) is applied with exemplary delicacy in Kashan, so that the back side of the carpet is finely and evenly knotted. The colours of Kashan carpets come from a variety of natural dyes including madder root, walnut skin, pomegranate skin and vine leaves. The traditional skills of Kashan carpet weaving are passed down to daughters through apprenticeship under instruction from their mothers and grandmothers. Apprenticeship is also the means by which men learn their skills of designing, dyeing, shearing, loom-building and tool-making.
Ghom pure silk carpet
The holy city of Qum (Ghom) has a reputation as the centre for the production of the finest pure silk rugs. In Spite of the fact that carpets weaving in Qum began only around 70 years ago, it has gained widespread recognition and fame for the attractive designs, agreeable colours and nice texture of its carpets throughout the world. Most Qum rugs have curvilinear patterns, and very elaborate floral motifs with intricate leaves and vines. The use of rich and vibrant colours ranging from cream to red, blue and black, result in the creating of some of the most beautiful silk rugs available today.
cost of handmade silk carpet
One of the main reasons that silk rugs are more expensive is because of the additional time taken to weave them. Because silk is a lot finer than wool the knot count in a hand crafted silk rug is often three or four times higher than the equivalent handmade wool carpet. This means that a silk carpet can have a lot more detail when compared to a wool carpet and this is also the reason silk carpets feel a lot more luxurious.
