Making a Real Difference: Traveling to the US

This post is the fifth in our series Making a Real Difference. To catch up on what this series is about – check out the first post here: Upcoming Event to Support 850 Families, the second post: From Sheep to Wool., and the third post: From One Knot to an Entire Rug, and the fourth post: Burning the Rug.

In our last post, we saw how artisans take the completed rug and “finish” it. Each of those finishing steps makes the handmade, Fair Trade rug even more durable, and after a final inspection is done, the rug is ready to be shipped to North America. By the time it is prepared for shipping, more than 15 people have helped in the creation of the rug.

All rugs are then shipped by air for JFK Airport. Anxious rug volunteers and Ten Thousand Villages staff members trek to the airport with a cargo van, pick up the shipment and bring it back to the Main Rug Room at the Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Ten Thousand Villages store. There, a team of rug volunteers and TTV staff unbale the shipment and get them ready for customers to enjoy.

When we’re ready at One World Market to host our rug event, we start by clearing floor space in our store. When the rugs arrive by cargo van, OWM staff and volunteers help unload the rugs.

During a rug event, we host the rugs for five days. During the event, everyone is welcome to come and take a look at these beautiful works of art! We have over 300 handmade rugs in the store, of all sizes, so you’re bound to find one to suit your taste and décor.

If you have interest in any particular rugs, you are welcome to take those rugs home on loan and try them in your own space, without the obligation to buy. The OWM staff and team of volunteers make the entire selection process a breeze.

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One World Market will be hosting a rug event this year from: Thursday, September 5th until Sunday, September 8th.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

Making a Real Difference: Burning the Rug

 

This post is the fourth in our series Making a Real Difference. To catch up on what this series is about – check out the first post here: Upcoming Event to Support 850 Families, the second post: From Sheep to Wool., and the third post: From One Knot to an Entire Rug.

In our last post of this series, we left off with the rugs being hand knotted by our adult artisans living in rural Pakistan. Our rug has come a long way in it’s life cycle,

and the next steps are all part of finishing the rug. It’s quite a process!

First, transporting the rugs from the knotter’s home to a warehouse facility in Lahore for finishing.

By way of car, ox cart, train, or even on the back of motorbike or bicycle, the newly knotted rugs are cut from the loom and taken to the warehouse in Lahore for finishing.

When the rug comes from the village, it is first numbered, measured and recorded in a daily logbook.

This allows the artisan group to note the design and size of the rug, the artisan who produced it, the village in which they live and the name of the village supervisor.

Burning

First the rug is burned on the back with a natural gas flame in order to effectively clean the back of wool fuzz.

Washing

The rug then goes for washing. The rug is drenched with water, washed with a bleach and water mixture, rinsed clean and then washed again. This time the rug is scrubbed by hand with regular bar soap until it is full of a thick lather of soap. Buckets of water are dumped on the rug as the rug is scrubbed with a very tough scrub brush.

The rug is rinsed clean and then with a squeegie-like tool called the poorah the water is shuffled from the rug. The artisan needs to be careful as the poorah is quite sharp and could easily cut the nearly completed rug. Such vigorous washing is necessary for the rug to achieve its final shine.

Drying

The rug is then hung from the side of a building and left to dry in the sunlight for up to a week. Sunlight helps the rug become more brilliant.

Shearing

Next, the rug is sheared by an artisan who drapes the rug over a steel pipe, its diameter determined by the desired height of the final pile. With a heavy shears (similar to shears once used to hand-trim the border of a lawn), the artisan trims the pile to the desired length. It takes three years of training to become a master trimmer.

Stretching

Next, the rug goes for stretching. Using wooden platforms to frame the rug, artisans nail each inch of the rug to the platforms and leave it in the sunlight all day. Usually done on rooftops, this process corrects the shape of the rug which may have been altered during knotting or washing.

Rugs made with a woolen warp are more difficult to stretch because a woolen warp is not as "pliable" as a cotton warp. A cotton warp allows the rug to stretch and maintain its correct form after stretching.

Neeming

While the rug is on the stretching frame, an artisan applies an organic mixture to the back of the rug that provides a lifetime mothproof protection for the rug. This organic mixture contains a substance found in neem trees, which acts as a natural moth repellent.

Clipping and Fringes

The rug is brought back to the warehouse for the final steps of the finishing process. The fringes are tied using the leftover warp threads. These knots can be tied in several ways, from simple knots to exquisite needlework. The fringe knots protect the rug from unraveling by securing the warp and weft threads. A rug can become threadbare over time, but if the warp and weft are held together, the rug remains strong.

Another finishing process includes clipping any unwanted warp knots and weft threads. During the knotting of the rug, a knotter ties over 40 knots per minute and it is inevitable that some warp threads are cut. At the time, these warp threads are tied and knotting continues. At finishing time, these knots are cut out, leaving the structure of the rug untouched. Also, the ends of the shuttled weft threads are trimmed during this period.

NEXT TIME…

In our next post we’ll learn about how rugs make their way from Pakistan to One World Market!

One World Market will be hosting a rug event this year from: Thursday, September 5th until Sunday, September 8th.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

Making a Real Difference: From Sheep to Wool

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: Upcoming Event to Support 850 Families

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: Thursday, September 5th through Sunday September 8th.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

Upcoming Event to Support 850 Families in Pakistan

Once a year, our store hosts a non-profit organization, Bunyaad, for just FOUR SHORT DAYS! During this time, our two organizations work together to help support over 850 families living in Pakistan. How do we do it?

We sell amazing, HANDKNOTTED, FAIR TRADE, Oriental Style Rugs! 

We completely transform the main floor of our store, moving fixtures and building rug flats. We bring in over 300 rugs in a variety of shapes, sizes, and patterns. We host and sell these rugs for four days, then we load them back up and send them on to their next event.

This year our rug event is Thursday, September 5th through Sunday September 8th.

Leading up to our rug event we will have several topical blog posts describing the different types of rugs available, how they’re made, who they support, and much more!

So…back to those families…

WHO DOES IT SUPPORT?

The Rug Program supports over 850 families living in roughly 100 rural villages throughout Pakistan, offering them a fair and living wage for their amazing artistry.

Receiving a fair wage means that the artisan is able to build a better home, and create educational opportunity for their children.

GENDER EQUALITY

 

The Rug Program employs men and women equally and allows the rug artisans to make their rugs in their own home. This gives them safety from travelling to a larger city, and ensures that not only the artisans benefit but the communities they live in will as well.

NO CHILD LABOR

The Rug Program also only employs adults, which in the handmade rug industry is an important standard to uphold. Instead the children can attend school and receive care from their parents who are able to work from the home.

REAL QUALITY

When an artisan knows they are being paid a fair wage for their time and work, they have the incentive to do their best job and to take their time with the product. This truth is a foundation of the rugs available through The Rug Program. The rugs have a quality like no other, and your family and generations to come will be able to enjoy their beauty.

SUPPORT A VILLAGE

Through The Rug Program, not only the artisan who knots the rug is benefited. From the shepherd who tends to the sheep from which the artisans get the wool,

to the finisher who cleans and trims the finished product: So MANY people are supported through the sale of each rug!

(All photos sourced from Ten Thousand Villages)

**********

To learn more about the rugs today you can visit rugs.tenthousandvillages.com and even view inventory to request certain rugs to our store.

You can also contact the staff at One World Market with questions anytime!

In our next blog post, we’ll describe how the rugs are made!

This Week Only! OWM Fair Trade Rug Event

 

Don’t miss our Oriental Rug Event – this week only – at One World Market!

From Wednesday, August 22nd through Sunday, August 26th, One World Market will host over 300 Fair Trade, Handmade Rugs from Pakistan.

Want to learn more about how these amazing rugs are made? Read our series, Making A Real Difference.

Still can’t believe how indestructible the handmade rugs are? View this short video:

Come by and see the rugs in person at

One World Market

811 Ninth Street – Durham, NC 27713

Want to help support Fair Trade Artisans? Share this opportunity with your friends and family!

Making a Real Difference: Traveling to the US

This post is the fifth 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, the second post: From Sheep to Wool., the third post: From One Knot to an Entire Rug, and the fourth post: You Mean…The Rug is Burned?.

In our last post, we saw how artisans take the completed rug and “finish” it. Each of those finishing steps makes the handmade, Fair Trade rug even more durable, and after a final inspection is done, the rug is ready to be shipped to North America. By the time it is prepared for shipping, more than 15 people have helped in the creation of the rug.

All rugs are then shipped by air for JFK Airport. Anxious rug volunteers and Ten Thousand Villages staff members trek to the airport with a cargo van, pick up the shipment and bring it back to the Main Rug Room at the Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Ten Thousand Villages store. There, a team of rug volunteers and TTV staff unbale the shipment and get them ready for customers to enjoy.

When we’re ready at One World Market to host our rug event, we start by clearing floor space in our store. When the rugs arrive by cargo van, OWM staff and volunteers help unload the rugs.

During a rug event, we host the rugs for five days. During the event, everyone is welcome to come and take a look at these beautiful works of art! We have over 300 handmade rugs in the store, of all sizes, so you’re bound to find one to suit your taste and décor.

If you have interest in any particular rugs, you are welcome to take those rugs home on loan and try them in your own space, without the obligation to buy. The OWM staff and team of volunteers make the entire selection process a breeze.

****

Now that you’ve read about the life cycle of a rug, you can view the entire process in this short video:

From the wool to the knotting, the finishing to the burning, you can see how incredibly hard our artisans work to ensure their rugs are of top quality.

Making a Real Difference: You Mean…The Rug is Burned?

This post is the fourth 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, the second post: From Sheep to Wool., and the third post: From One Knot to an Entire Rug.

In our last post of this series, we left off with the rugs being hand knotted by our adult artisans living in rural Pakistan. Our rug has come a long way in it’s life cycle,

and the next steps are all part of finishing the rug. It’s quite a process!

First, transporting the rugs from the knotter’s home to a warehouse facility in Lahore for finishing.

By way of car, ox cart, train, or even on the back of motorbike or bicycle, the newly knotted rugs are cut from the loom and taken to the warehouse in Lahore for finishing.

When the rug comes from the village, it is first numbered, measured and recorded in a daily logbook.

This allows the artisan group to note the design and size of the rug, the artisan who produced it, the village in which they live and the name of the village supervisor.

Burning

First the rug is burned on the back with a natural gas flame in order to effectively clean the back of wool fuzz.

Washing

The rug then goes for washing. The rug is drenched with water, washed with a bleach and water mixture, rinsed clean and then washed again. This time the rug is scrubbed by hand with regular bar soap until it is full of a thick lather of soap. Buckets of water are dumped on the rug as the rug is scrubbed with a very tough scrub brush.

The rug is rinsed clean and then with a squeegie-like tool called the poorah the water is shuffled from the rug. The artisan needs to be careful as the poorah is quite sharp and could easily cut the nearly completed rug. Such vigorous washing is necessary for the rug to achieve its final shine.

Drying

The rug is then hung from the side of a building and left to dry in the sunlight for up to a week. Sunlight helps the rug become more brilliant.

Shearing

Next, the rug is sheared by an artisan who drapes the rug over a steel pipe, its diameter determined by the desired height of the final pile. With a heavy shears (similar to shears once used to hand-trim the border of a lawn), the artisan trims the pile to the desired length. It takes three years of training to become a master trimmer.

Stretching

Next, the rug goes for stretching. Using wooden platforms to frame the rug, artisans nail each inch of the rug to the platforms and leave it in the sunlight all day. Usually done on rooftops, this process corrects the shape of the rug which may have been altered during knotting or washing.

Rugs made with a woolen warp are more difficult to stretch because a woolen warp is not as "pliable" as a cotton warp. A cotton warp allows the rug to stretch and maintain its correct form after stretching.

Neeming

While the rug is on the stretching frame, an artisan applies an organic mixture to the back of the rug that provides a lifetime mothproof protection for the rug. This organic mixture contains a substance found in neem trees, which acts as a natural moth repellent.

Clipping and Fringes

The rug is brought back to the warehouse for the final steps of the finishing process. The fringes are tied using the leftover warp threads. These knots can be tied in several ways, from simple knots to exquisite needlework. The fringe knots protect the rug from unraveling by securing the warp and weft threads. A rug can become threadbare over time, but if the warp and weft are held together, the rug remains strong.

Another finishing process includes clipping any unwanted warp knots and weft threads. During the knotting of the rug, a knotter ties over 40 knots per minute and it is inevitable that some warp threads are cut. At the time, these warp threads are tied and knotting continues. At finishing time, these knots are cut out, leaving the structure of the rug untouched. Also, the ends of the shuttled weft threads are trimmed during this period.

NEXT TIME…

In our next post we’ll learn about how rugs make their way from Pakistan to One World Market!

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!

 

Making a Real Difference: From One Knot to an Entire Rug

This post is the third 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 and From Sheep to Wool.

Yesterday we left off with our wool ready, the design drawn, and the talam written.

Now – we’re ready for the fourth step in the Life Cycle of a Fair Trade Rug, the hand knotting!

Step Four: Hand Knotting

First, the artisan starts with the backbone of the rug, the warp. Dependent on the type of rug being made, the warp is constructed of cotton thread or wool thread. The warp is usually created in the village center or house courtyard. By foot, motorcycle or bicycle, it is then transported to the individual knotter's home.

There the warp is set on the loom and pulled very taut, like guitar strings. Each warp has a front set of threads and a back set. When put on the loom, these are separated.

The looms are located inside the rug knotters' homes. This gives increased opportunity for women to work. For example, below is Parveen. After a leg amputation, Parveen began working for the rug program and is now able to support her three children.

An expert knotter can knot approximately 40 knots per minute. One knot is tied at a time and cut as evenly as possible with the churi (knife), and then the next knot is made.

The churi is crafted in such a manner that the top "crook" adds the extra weight for easy cutting. This "crook" is blunt and is used to do the first pounding of the knots. The knotter knows the order of the knots either by reading from the talam or from memory.

 

When one row of knots is completed, a weft thread is shuttled through the carpet and pounded into place by the panja, a comb-like tool.

The warp threads are then shifted and another weft thread is shuttled through. Each row is then trimmed to keep the pile as even as possible which is necessary for good washing.

Knotting now continues in the next row. Usually a rug is both begun and finished with a small kilim (flat-woven) end. This is just a way of fastening the weft thread into the warp and adding extra protection to the ends of the rug.

Depending on the size of the rug, it can take anywhere from a few months to a few years to complete a rug, with anywhere from 1 to 5 members of a family knotting the rug at once. For example, a 9 x 12 Persian Rug that has 500 knots per square inch would take 5 people working side by side for 6 hours a day, 1 year and 2 months to complete!

So now that the rug is completed, it’s journey is only halfway finished!

NEXT TIME…

In our next post we’ll learn about how rugs are “finished”, a seven step process that will definitely surprise you!

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!