Yarn for Rugs

For some years now, Rajasthan and Bikaneri Chokla Wool has been developed with sheep being bred with carpet wool production in mind. The result is a strong, lustrous wool well suited for making rugs. Sometimes, this Chockla wool is blended with New Zealand or Argentine wool. Either way, the results are long staple wools with soft silky touch.

The wool is combed, (sometimes blended) and spun into thread and yarn that is then dyed to exacting specifications. There are large automated processes and smaller hand worked batches. Most of us would have a hard time telling the difference in the end product.

A pretty large batch of wool in the dye process.

Not as large but still considered large batch.

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Now we're getting into small batch dyeing.
The yarn is rotated into the hot dye.

This batch was almost finished.

He clipped off a small piece and dried it in front of an ordinary space heater to compare with the master sample.

A small piece is kept for batch number reference.

Next stop will be the warehouse

where each bundle is cataloged

and stored for a future rug.

To see rugs made

After years of interest, collecting a couple dozen books on oriental rugs, and yes, a few rugs of my own, I decided it was time for me to see rugs being made in person. Jaipur, India was an excellent choice for that.


I was fortunate to have had a source here in the states to arrange contact with a specific manufacturer. One of their executives met me at the airport and graciously provided me with car and driver during my stay. (They drive on the left side of the road plus traffic is truly mad. Every driver absolutely must take advantage of even a 8 inch gap between other vehicles. If you go, let them do the driving.)

My first full day was spent as a tourist. The 400 year old Amber Palace is stunning. Among the patterns hand carved in stone are many that often inspired design elements in carpets.

More pictures are at http://itsaboutrugs.com/India/Amber/index.html

The next day began with carpet design.
Rug maps (sometimes referred to as "cartoons") or a Naksha are still drawn by hand in many parts of India but my host has computer aided design programs that provide every detail needed for each pattern. For example, this makes it much easier to design a rug that will be available in several sizes, or perhaps a pattern made in more than one set of colors.Then the final drawing has specific yarn samples attached to identify where each color is to be used.
More pictures are at http://itsaboutrugs.com/India/Design/index.html

Next up, I'll talk about the wool yarn and preparing it for use on a hand knotted rug.