This post is the second in our series Making a Real Difference. To catch up on what this series is about – check out the first post here: An Introduction to the Rug Program
In learning about how our Fair Trade Rugs are made, most folks are astounded by not only the intense detail of the knotting, but also how many steps, processes, and people it takes to make one rug!
In this post we’ll focus the first three of those steps and processes, as we explore the life cycle of a Fair Trade Rug!
Step One: Sheep to Wool
The first step in the production of the Fair Trade Rugs is the dyeing of the wool. The wool used in these rugs are mostly from local Pakistani wool, as our artisans aim to support local sheep herders. Supporting the sheep herders enables the ancient form of retaining wool to continue.
Most of the wool is from a breed of sheep known as the dhumba sheep, pictured below:
This sheep has an extra fat pack on its tail adding extra oil and lanolin to the wool, which makes the wool used high quality.
Step Two: Dyeing the Wool
Natural Dye: Some of the rugs in the rug program are produced with natural dyes, meaning dyes that are made from a combination of tree bark, leaves, vegetable skins and other natural ingredients. Natural dyes are more expensive, since gathering and preparing all the ingredients for the dye takes a large amount of time.
For example, just the dyeing process alone, for just one bundle of wool, can take as long as two weeks. Natural dyes are also quite tricky to produce as a constant temperature needs to be maintained to achieve a consistent absorption of the dye. Many times the final color is only known when the completed rug is washed.
Synthetic Dye: Artisans only use safe synthetic dyes that are very resistant to fading and bleeding. The wool is dyed by : boiling it for more than six hours in a large copper pot or steaming it in a water bath. When dyed in the copper pots, the copper acts as a fixative to help the dye adhere to the wool. Steaming reduces the dyeing time to two to three hours and generally produces colors with better accuracy. The dyeing process "pre-shrinks" the wool before it is knotted and prevents additional shrinking after the rug is completed.
Step Three: Designing the Rug
This step is actually three smaller steps: Designing the Graph, Reading the Graph, and then writing that graph into Talam.
First, Designing the Graph.
Using graph paper, a rug artist sketches the rug design. To create the more intricate floral Persian designs, a master designer first sketches a design onto graph paper with pencil taking anywhere between a few days to a couple of weeks to complete. This artist apprentices for many years before becoming a master designer. Once graphed, the artist then decides on color, carefully painting the design with watercolors, first the large expanses and then the finer details. Each square on the graph paper represents one knot.
Then Reading the Graph and Writing it into Talam.
The designs are then written into a special "rug language" called talam. Talam basically reads like a large counted cross-stitch pattern. The talam works like this: Each color has a symbol and the color's symbol is used with the amount of knots of that color written above it. The talam is then either read by the knotter or one knotter will call the instructions to others on the loom. The talam is written in sheets, each sheet denoting a certain progression of the rug. Below is an example of the talam.
Now you’ve learned more about the prepwork that goes into making a rug, even before an artisan sits down at the loom to make the first knot.
From shepherds to master designers, so many can benefit from the sale of just one rug!
NEXT TIME…
In our next blog post in this series, we’ll explore how the artisans actually make the rug by looking at the method of hand knotting.
One World Market will be hosting a rug event this year from: Wednesday, August 22nd through Sunday, August 26th.
Please let us know if you have any questions!
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