Craftsmanship
Over the years, a number of handmade rug making techniques have evolved, and all of these techniques give a different look and feel to the rug. Some of the most popular techniques are illustrated below:
1. Hand-tufting
In this technique, a drawing is made on an actual size canvas which is stretched and put on a frame. A ‘tufting gun’ is then used to tuft different color bundled yarns onto this canvas as per the design. In order to give strength, warmth and insulation to this rug, an additional backing (latex or other material) is affixed to the back of the rug. Pile of the rug, which is in the form of a loop, can either be cut or left as it is, to give a different look and feel to the carpet. Even height of the pile can be varied to give the rug a different texture (high and low pile effect). By varying the drawing, material, pile height and yarn colors, any design (complicated or simple) or texture can be realized using this technique. Price of these rugs depends on complexity of the design and the material used.
2. Hand-weaving
In this technique, flat woven rugs are made with a two-dimensional construction. They do not have a pile and are made of sets of interlacing threads called warp and weft. This technique produces flat and light weight rugs.
3. Hand-knotting
This is the most labor-intensive technique and therefore, also most expensive. A skilled weaver would individually make this, thus creating a one-of-a-kind rug. Depending on the number of knots and complexity of design, a single rug can take months to complete. These rugs are sturdy and can withstand heavy usage.
In this technique, a weaver uses a large vertical weaving loom to tie zillions of knots passing a horizontal weft through vertically tied warp threads. Price of these rugs depends on number of knots per unit area.