Carpet Glossary
Carpet Glossary includes the terms related to Carpets and kilims:
A
- A change in the color of a rug due to differences in the wool or dye batch. The color change runs across the rug and is most likely to occur at the top.
B
- A pear-shaped figure often used in Oriental rug designs, characteristic of the paisley pattern. The botch may represent a leaf, bush or a pine cone.
C
- Deep red dye obtained from the dried bodies of a type of insect.
- Process for preparing wool in the same direction, before they are spun.
D
- A Persian name used to describe approximately a 150cm x 210cm size carpet.
E
- Both edges of a woven rug are covered with overcast (a simple running stitch) or selvedge (finished with a woven band) in order to reinforce the edges, as they are particularly susceptible to wear.
F
- Describes a rug that has a flat pile which includes Dhurrie, Kilim and Soumak.
- The warp and weft are the basis/foundation of a rug.
- Warps extending from the ends of a rug which are treated in several ways to prevent the wefts and knots from unraveling.
G
- Panel designs throughout the field woven with floral motifs.
- Persian name for knot
- A Persian name used to describe approximately a 200cm x 300cm (small size) or 270 x 370 (medium size) or 300 x 400 (large size) carpets.
- See Turkish knot
- A medallion either octagonal or angular in shape, used in Turkmen designs. It is often repeated to form an all-over pattern in the field.
H
- A fish pattern repeating throughout the field of a rug
I
- A native plant of southern Asia that was traded in powder form. Different blue shaded dyes from sky-blue to black obtained from the leaves of this plant
J
- A false knotting technique that simplifies the knot for the weaver.
K
- Persian name for a wide runner with approximate size of 120 (to 180 cm) x 250 (to 500 cm)
- Persian name for a long runner with approximate size of 70 (to 110 cm) x 280 (to 1600 cm)
- Persian name for a short runner with approximate size of 70 cm x 180 cm
- Coarse carpet with 36,000-50,000 knots/square meter
- Double bag which is slung over the shoulder as a small pannier for vegetables and foodstuff.
- A flat woven rug or rug without a knotted pile.
- The first two centimeters of carpet woven as ordinary textile is called “Kilim-baft”
- A knot is formed when wool, cotton or silk yarn is looped around the warp threads. There are different procedures for knotting and each knot type has a name, for example there is a Turkish/Ghiordes knot & a Persian/Senneh knot.
- Number of knots per square inch rates the knot quality.
- The very finest quality wool obtained from the shoulder and flanks of shearing lambs.
L
- Normally a wood structure that the carpet is woven on.
M
- A wild perennial, found from Asia /minor to China. It is the most common natural source of red dyes.
- The large enclosed portion of a design, usually in the center. Typical shapes are diamonds, octagons and hexagons.
- A Persian name used to describe medium / small rugs, with dimensions of approximately 100 cm x 200 cm.
P
- See poshti
- A Persian name used to describe approximately a 150cm x 250cm size carpet.
- Looped around one thread with only a half-turn around the other thread.
- The nap of the rug or the tufts remaining after the knotted yarns is clipped.
- This is straightforward interlacing of the warp and weft on the loom.
- A Persian name used to describe very small rugs, with dimensions of approximately 60 cm x 90 cm .
- A rug with a representation of mosque or arched prayer area. Columns may be shown supporting the arch with a lamp hanging from the arch’s apex.
S
- Natural dye used to obtain a yellow color.
- See Do-zar
- The area between the edge of a rug and the fringe. The selvedge is the same material used to form the warp and weft. A design can be added to the selvedge to enhance the look of a rug.
- See Persian knot
- Small runner largely woven by Kurdish and Balouch tribes and used as a ground cloth during meals.
- The term Soumak is said to have derived from the Caucasian town Shemakha, where very fine brocade weft-warped kilims have been woven for centuries. Soumak weave is a technique that produces a herringbone effect.
T
- The knot is formed by looping the pile yarn across two warp strands and then drawing each end back through the inside of both the warps.
W
- Beginning part of a rug where wool, cotton or silk strands are attached to a loom vertically, following the length of a rug.
- Wool, cotton or silk strands inserted horizontally over and under the warp forming the foundation of the rug.
Z
- A Persian name used to describe small rugs, with dimensions of approximately 80cm x 130 cm.
- A Persian name used to describe small rugs, with dimensions of approximately 100cm x 150 cm.
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