A home is your safe place, a place you own, love, and is close to your heart. If you are a fan of classy home decor. You adore that classic elegant antique piece in a place. And You want to decorate your beautiful home with the most elegant accessories and furniture. The best way to give your home a classic touch is to add some vintage items to its decor. The vintage-style furniture to the handmade area rugs on the floor creates classic vibes in your home. While antique furniture is easy to get and recognize, it is hard to recognize handmade rugs easily. A person with less knowledge of rugs and carpets can’t differentiate between handmade and machine-made area rugs. To be on the safe side, it is better you must know how to recognize if a rug is handmade or machine-made.
What are Handmade Rugs
A rug is handmade if hands craft it on a loom. The crafters are not professional with no appliances but just a loom and the knowledge and skills from their ancestors. It is common to find some imperfections in rugs that are hand-loomed. They are created with talent and passion. The artisans are most of the tribe’s men and women who tell their folk stories through the art in the rug. These rugs are just a piece of artwork in the form of fabric.
A rug is handmade if it consists of 25 to 2000 knots per square inch. They are made with long hours of effort that makes it an expensive rug. The three main types of handcrafted rugs are:
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Hand-Knotted Rugs
Hand Knotted rugs are made on a loom. The size of the rug is according to the size of the loom. Its fibers are knotted by hand. The knots are tied into the base that makes the piles of the rug. The standard material of hand-knotted rugs is wool, jute, sisal, silk, and cotton. These rugs are expensive but the most durable rugs you will ever get.
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Flat Weave Rugs
These rugs are piles less. They are flat. Common types of flatweave rugs are dhurries and kilims. They are also handcrafted on a loom.
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Hand-Tufted Rugs
They are made with the help of a tufting drill. The threads are inserted into the base, forming loops and cut piles. Also, A fabric does the finishing to the interior portion of the rug.
Knots Styles of Hand-made Rugs
Knots style and the count is important in handmade rugs. Pile weave is created by knots. The two common types of knots are symmetric and asymmetric. Jufti and Tibetan knots are also famous. Knots count per square inch varies from 25 to 2000 depending on the size of the rug. The knots type and weaving determine the pile and quality of the rug.
- Turkish knots are symmetric weaved by the tribes of Turkey, Iran, and Kurdish. The knots are made by passing the yarn over two warp strands. The end of the string is then wrapped with a warp and brought to the base in the middle of the warps.
- The Persian knot is asymmetric. These are the knots of rugs crafted in India, Turkey, China, and Egypt. In this knot, yarn is wrapped with a warp and then passes under the other warp and then back to the rug’s base. This knot creates a fine weave.
- Jufti knots are found in Iranian rugs. The knot is tied by four warps and is easy as compared to other knots. This knot can either be symmetric or asymmetric.
- Tibetan knots are created by using a rod. Yarn is looped around warps and then around the rod to make a knot. When a row is finished, the loops are cut to create a knot.
The Density of the Knot
Density refers to knots per square inch in a rug. To measure knots, count the knots per inch along the warp and weft and multiply the numbers. Knots density measures the quality and texture of the rug. However, in tribal and some of the traditional rugs, density is not considered as necessary.
The weaving of the Rug
It is the technique used for weaving handmade rugs. The two main techniques are piles weave and the flat weave technique used in crafting a rug on a handloom.
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Piles Weave
Pile or knotted weave is the weaving method used in most hand-crafted rugs. A yarn is tied to the warps creating a knot on the back of the rug and pile on the surface. When a row is created, strands of wefts are passed through strands of warp. A comb then beats these strands to secure a knot.
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Flat Weave
In this weaving technique, no knots are used. The warp is used for the foundation, and the weft forms both the pattern and foundation of the rug. The weft and warp strands are simply passing into each other, weaving the rug. The surface of these rugs looks flat.
Age of the Rug
Most of the handmade rugs are antique and come from generations. They are crafted by the old tribes making it a statement piece. In some cases, dates are prepared on the rug that tells about its age. The condition of the rug also tells if it is a newly crafted or an old piece. Most of the handwoven rugs change their color slightly over time due to the natural dyes used in their coloring threads and yarns.
The layout of the Rug
The layout or structure means the arrangement of motifs on the rug. Motifs are the design of the rug. The structure is differentiated in three ways.
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All-Over
All over don’t have a typical or dominant motif. The design is spread throughout the rug. Moreover, Motifs are sometimes connected and sometimes in separate forms.
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Medallion
As the word describes a central motif. The design has a centerpiece that is the focal point of the rug. The central motif may be oval, round, diagonal, diamond, or star.
3. One-Sided
This design is in one direction. Prayer rugs are examples of these rugs.
The pattern of the Rug
The pattern tells a lot about the weaving of the rug. In most handmade rugs, patterns are geometric or symbols telling a story. The three common patterns of a handwoven rug are curvilinear, geometric, and pictorial. While pictorial symbolizes portraits and symbols. Pictorial is the traditional one telling about tribes’ stories through symbols and colors.
Bottom Line
Handmade rugs are expensive due to their weaving and laborious process, but these are the most durable rugs and can go from generation to generation if appropriately maintained. A handmade rug is a statement piece on the floor, giving your home an elegant and chic look. RugKnots provide the most beautiful handmade oriental rugs. They have rugs hand-crafted by expert artisans.
