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What are Afghan carpets (Afghan rugs)?
A basic distinction exists between Afghan carperts (Afghan rugs), and Afghan kilims. Both are constructed on a loom, either in the horizontal or vertical plane depending on the size and style required. A carpet is made up from knots tied to "warp" threads running longitudinally on the loom, and held together by lateral "weft" threads. Kilims are flat woven by intertwining the weft and warp threads to create bold patterns with no knots involved. The material used in the knots, warp, or weft threads, is typically silk, cotton, or wool. Afghan carpets and Afghan kilims tend to be primarily made from wool, and are consequently warm and hard wearing.
Afghan carpet sizes
The size of Afghan carpets and Afghan kelims is obviously dictated, in part, by the size of the loom. Nomadic tribes would often weave on a loom small enough to be easily transported, and would therefore produce narrower carpets or kelims than those made on the larger village based looms.
The spread of carpet making
Carpet and kilim making, along with Islam, spread through the Near East, Middle East, and Central Asia, with invading armies and traders. Tribal people used the carpets and kilims as floor coverings, saddle bags, horse blankets, and even as bands on round nomadic tents (yurts), or as door flaps.
Dyeing processes
Although natural dyes are still used in carpet and kilim making, synthetic dyes have become quite easily available over the last fifty years, and are now in common use. The yarn must be soaked in a fixing solution of either alum, tin, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, or urine, when using natural dyes. After the fixing solution, the yarn is soaked in a bath of dye until the required colour is obtained, and then dried.
Popularity and uses
Afghan carpets and Afghan kilims are popular throughout the Western world as beautiful floor and wall coverings, with saddle bags being adapted as cushion covers, yurt bands as stair and hall carpets, and kilims incorporated into furniture as a decorative, hard wearing upholstery material. |
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