Rug guide · 09
Terminology
A short glossary of words you will meet in rug descriptions, and what they mean.
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25 terms · A B C D F G H J K M P S T W
Structure
- Backing
- The cloth, often cotton, applied to the reverse of a hand-tufted rug to secure the tufts.
- Fringe
- The finished ends of a rug; on hand-knotted rugs formed from the warps, on many tufted rugs sewn on.
- Jufti knot
- A knot tied over four warps rather than two, faster to weave but giving a thinner, less durable pile.
- Knot density
- The number of knots in a given area; it affects how finely a design can be drawn.
- Pile
- The raised surface of a rug, formed by the cut ends of knots or tufts.
- Selvedge
- The finished side edges of a rug, usually wrapped or overcast to protect them.
- Warp
- The vertical threads strung on the loom that form the rug's foundation; on a hand-knotted rug they extend beyond the ends as the fringe.
- Weft
- Horizontal threads passed through the warps; in a pile rug they lock each row of knots, and in a flatweave they carry the pattern.
Design
- Abrash
- Natural variation of tone within a single colour, caused by dye batches and yarn.
- Border
- The band or bands framing the field.
- Boteh
- A teardrop motif with a curled tip, widely known as paisley.
- Field
- The main central area of a rug's design, inside the borders.
- Guard stripe
- A narrow band on either side of the main border.
- Gul
- A repeated medallion-like figure, characteristic of many Central Asian rugs.
- Medallion
- A central motif, often round, oval or lobed, that gives a design its focus.
- Spandrel
- A corner area of the field, often filled with a quarter-medallion or ornament echoing the centre.
Making
- Carving
- Cutting the pile to different heights around motifs to create relief.
- Clipping
- Trimming the pile to an even height after weaving.
- Handloom
- A manually operated loom; also used loosely for rugs woven on one.
- Talim
- The colour-coded script long used by Kashmiri weavers to record a design knot by knot.
- Tufting
- Making a rug by punching yarn through a cloth with a hand-held tool.
- Washing
- Cleaning a newly woven rug to settle the knots and bring out colour and lustre.
Types of rug
- Dhurrie
- A traditional Indian flat-woven rug, usually of cotton or wool.
- Flatweave
- Any rug woven without pile, its pattern formed by warp and weft alone.
- Kilim
- A flat-woven rug in the tapestry tradition, associated with many regions from the Balkans to Central Asia.
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