Carpet Weavers / Tisseurs de Tapis:
CARPET WEAVING:
Warp: The vertical yarn attached to the upper and bottom beam. The warp is the foundation of the rug.
Weft: The horizontal yarn passed through the rug. These are the building blocks to the rugs structure.
Pile: Is the thickness of the rug from the base.
Persian Rug Knots - HAND KNOTTED RUGS
These are your traditional Persian rugs. A knot is created using the following steps.
Pass the yarn through one vertical warp on the left side.
Bring it back to the front on the right side of the warp.
Pass it though the right side of the next warp on the left.
Finally, bring it back to the front on the left side.
That creates one knot and it can now be cut. This is a little complicated but the photo below will help.
Rug Knots
One 8x10 rug can have anywhere between 1 to 6 million knots or 100 to 800 knots per square inch. The average time to make an 8x10 hand knotted rug is over 3000 hours for one person. That is equivalent to 384 working days.
HAND LOOMED AND FLAT WEAVE
These are done on a loom and the process takes 1-4 people depending on the size of the rug. On the loom, the yarn or weft is thrown through the middle of the bottom and top warp. The weaver then compacts the rug with the beater and the weft and warp are woven together. This alone is considered a flatweave.
This Linen Era (1930-45) postcard is in good condition. No. 23.