Edoğan ILDIZ | Kitaplarım

PART I

HISTORY OF TURKISH CARPETS

Turks say “ One can tell a lion by its lair ” or, one can judge a person by his surroundings. The things one buys and displays at home are indicative of one’s character and taste; some are very particular in making a selection; while others are relatively different.

Rugs do play an important role in a home’ s decor, so it is important to know how to select and buy them. To begin with, one should know of their historical background. Rugs were first made in an attempt to imitate animal pelts, with time the making of rugs grew into a nomadic and village handicraft.

In Anatolian villages, the selection of a bride is a family affair. In selecting a girl, the boy’ s mother looks for qualities as good housekeeping, good needlework, good health and good child care. Therefore a young and marriageable girl while preparing her trousseau, is showing her talents. Carpets and kilims, are carefully prepared by these girls as part of their dowries.

First the girl shears the wool from the sheep or lamb, then washes it under running water and after fluffing it up she spins the wool into yarn. The next step is the dying of the wool. The girl collects plants, berries and roots from the fields and dyes the yarn in the same ways as she has seen her mother and grandmother do it. After having dyed enough wool she re-was-hes it to get rid of the excess dye. Now the materials are ready to start weaving the carpet.

As she weaves the rug, she puts her emotions-anticipations and fear into her work. This gives these peasant rugs their artistic value. This practice has continued for many years as part of the family tradition in Anatolia.

PART II

DETERMINIG QUALITY OF CARPETS

A-The Factors Determining The Quality

There are five factors which determine the quality of carpets and kilims :

1- Quality and type of materials used

2- Weaving technique

3- Quality and type of the dyes used

4- Desing and composition

5- Age

1- Quality and type of materials used :

a) Animal materials: Wool and silk. When a match is put to them they do not

burn with flames and fire goes out at once after the match is taken a way. Smells like burning hair.

b) Vegetable materials: Cotton. Burns immediately, does not go out easily.

c) Synthetic materials : Nylon, artificial silk. They burn with flames and melt.

Wool is considered the best and most traditional of these materials. Also in wool

there are different subtypes; Lambswool, sheep wool, dead sheep wool and factory wool. The best is lambswool because it is shiny, soft, slightly oily and most durable. Sheep wool has the same properties in a lesser degree. Dead sheep wool is quite hard, dull and not so durable. Factory wool has been made by recycling used wool which is often mixed with synthectic fibres.

2- Weaving Technique :

A carpet has three elements: The warp, i.e. the yarn streched from bottom to top

of which the ends are visible as fringes, the weft which weaves horizontally in and out of the warp, and the knots, made around these two elements. There are two types of workmanship used in the knotting of a carpet, a traditional and a commercial. The traditional knot is called the Turkish, Ghiordes or double knot, more difficult to make but more durable. The commercial knot is called The Persian, Senneh or single knot.

In the time of the Renaissance when the demand for the carpets in Europe was growing, The Persians, in answer to this demand, changed from the double to the single knot, because it was easier to make and looked more tight and fine. Because it was less durable commercially there was more demand for new carpets. In Turkey today many carpets are made with this commercial technique also.

3- Quality and the types of dyes :

There are two types of dyes; Vegetable and synthetic. Vegetables dyes are

extracted from the leaves, flowers, roots and berries of different plants. There are also very good synthetic dyes in the market that give very good results. However nothing can match that three dimensional beauty of vegetable dyes, so they are still preferred bye the experts. Unfortunately because of commercial realities the use of vegetable dye is slowly dying out.

4- Design and Composition :

The designs also can be divided into commercial and traditional. The commercial

designs are liked by the buyers for their variety and richness of fantasy. The traditional designs represent all the elements of the Turkish Culture. Every pattern has a meaning, behind every meaning there is a historical tradition.

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