Silk carpet introduction
Silk carpets, made of high quality natural silk, are produced in a complicated traditional work. A lot of pre-work was involved before weaving.
1. Make design and match colors
Draw design on a chart and match the different colors on it so that the weavers can follow.
This is a creative work. The artisans must have a blue print in their mind. Actually the finished
carpet is the representation of the design. To some extent, this is the first important thing because it can
determine the value of the carpet.
2. Prepare the material
Reel off the raw silk fiber from the cocoons. One third of the silk from the cocoons can be used to
weave silk carpets. Then bind the silk fiber into silk strands. Put the silk strands into boiling alkaline water for 30-40 minutes to make it soft and later rinse the alkali and impurities by clean water.Traditionally use
natural pigments (indigo, saffron crocus, acorn cup, and larkspur stem...) to dye the yarns into different
colors. But now we use also chemical dye. Generally speaking, about 30 kinds of colors of silk strands
will be used when weaving carpets.
3. Hang the warp
Warps will be fixed on the loom rack, which is almost like a standing frame consisting of 4 bars.
The warps will be looped tightly between the top bar and the bottom one. Heddles will be bound between
another horizontal bar and warps. After the foundation is woven by plain silk thread the carpet knotting will start.
4. How to knot silk carpet
The silk yarns will be clasped around the warps by either the Turkish Ghiordes knots (Double knots) or
by the Persian Senneh knots. Then the end of the silk thread will be cut off by knife. When a raw of knots
is finished the weft will run through compartment space between front and back warps. With the comb the
knots and wefts will be struck hard against the wefts.
Making tassel,shearing carpet and washing carpet
After monthes’ or even years’ work the whole carpet is finished. It will be cut down from the loom rack.
The ends of the warps will be coiled up into beautiful tassels. The carpet will be sheared evenly and washed
thoroughly before being sold.
It will take one girl about half a year to make a 2×3ft carpet of 300 lines (90,000knots per square foot),
1.5 years to weave a 2×3ft silk carpet of 500 lines(250,000knots per square foot), two years to knot a 1×1.5 feet silk carpet with 800 lines(640,000knots per square foot) and 3 years to make a 1.2×1.5 feet silk carpet with 1000 lines(1000,000 knots per square foot). The silk thread used to knot top quality carpet is as thin as a hair.
When knotting, weavers even need to use magnifier. The work is so harmful to weavers’ eyes that they
seldom can make the second same piece. So this kind of silk carpet is named "soft gold".
Chinese silk carpets are woven out of the high quality silk, Hand-knotted, with high-density and superb quality, graceful and various in design, harmonious in color matching, shining and
smooth in surface, soft yet durable in texture, well proportioned and orderly in pattern. Free from confusion,
anti-worm-eaten. Due to these features, Chinese silk carpets are of high artistic value, and good for decorations or collection.
In addition the reasonable price, Chinese Silk carpets become one of the best-welcomed carpets in the international market.
When choosing a carpet you should consider the size and shape of the carpet. Silk carpets have special measures.
So the size could be approximately with that you want. Silk carpets are works of art and are not made to cover
the entire floor, so there usually will be at least 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) of vacant space between the edge
of carpet and its surrounding furniture or walls. For the sizes of rectangular, square and runner carpets, it is no need
to explain. However for the round carpet the size is measured by its diameter. For the oval shaped carpet, the longer
diameter is considered to be the length and the shorter one the width.
Allover
Carpets in this layout have no central design and the designs spread throughout the whole carpet separately or connected.
There may be one same design or several designs appearing repeatedly throughout the whole carpet.
Medallion
In this layout, a large centerpiece is the main design called "Medallion". And this layout is the most popular one in
handmade carpet. The shapes of medallions are usually circular, oval, octagonal, hexagonal and star-like. This kind of carpets is always symmetric in layout.
One-sided
For this layout, the designs are woven in only one direction. Therefore the carpet can only be properly viewed from
one side. The designs on one-sided carpets are usually images of people, animals and sceneries. Since one-sided carpets should not be viewed upside-down they are often used as tapestries.
Colors
Silk carpets have many colors but the first impression of the color a carpet gives you is the contrast of various
colors that creates the different designs. This is the same way in all other art fields. The colors of a carpet are
mainly identified by the field (background) color and the border color. The field color is dominant. It usually covers
the entire carpet with the exception of the border and the most commonly used colors are red, blue, black, beige
and yellow. But some times, the colors of background and the border are so distinguishable. So when choosing
the silk carpet you should consider whether the field color matches your furniture and the wall.
Styles
There are many styles in Chinese silk carpet. Typical Chinese styles are like dragon design, phoenix design, Buddhist
and Taoist symbol design. Persian style is very important and popular. Since introduced in China, it has been very
well developed. A lot of high-density knot silk carpets are woven in Persian style. Turkish style and other styles also can be seen in Chinese
silk carpets.
As far as the knot density concerned, we consider 120 lines (14400knots/sft) silk carpet medium fine, 300 lines
(90,000knots/sft) silk carpet fine, 400 lines (160,000 knots/sft) silk carpet super fine, above 500 lines (250,000 knots/sft)
silk carpet extreme fine, 1000 lines (1000,000 knots/sft) silk carpet the finest. The Persian and Turkish silk carpet are
very famous for their design and quality but compared with Chinese silk carpet, the knot density is much lower.
China produces extremely high knot-density silk carpets and silk tapestries, which workmanship are incredibly exquisite.
How to take care of silk carpet
Placing the silk carpet
When place the silk carpet, put a good quality underlay below it. This will not only give better resilience underfoot,
but also prolong the life of silk carpet. The carpet mat can absorb the moisture of the floor and prevent the carpet
slipping.
Cleaning and stain removal
Generally speaking, every 2 years you should look for a professional carpet cleaning company to clean the silk
carpets one time. In daily life you can vacuum the carpet to remove dirt but not vacuum the fringes. If beer,
wine or oil stains the silk carpets but not seriously you can use a towel to dilute the spill quickly then use lukewarm
water with a mild detergent and a dash of vinegar to dab stain with soft cloth.
Preservation
When you don’t use the carpet you should roll it against the direction of the nap and sore it at a dry place in case
of being damped. You should not put the carpet in a plastic bag.
Shifting directions Depends on the traffic every 6 months or one-year please shift the direction of the carpet so as the piles can keep in good condition.