The Rug Library

After tufting, a coat of latex adhesive is applied to the back of a hand-tufted rug to anchor the tufts, followed by a secondary backing cloth.

Tufting guns can produce cut pile, loop pile or both, and can create more than one pile height within the same rug.

In hand-tufting, a netting layer and then a jute or canvas-like cloth are typically laid over the latex-coated back of the rug to hold the tufts and cover the reverse.

The secondary backing on a hand-tufted rug adds dimensional stability and protects and neatens the underside of the finished piece.

Cut-pile tufting gives a soft, slightly shaggy surface, while loop-pile tufting leaves tight connected loops that show fewer footprints.

A hand-tufted rug is made by punching yarn through a stretched backing cloth rather than tying individual knots, which makes it much quicker to produce than a hand-knotted rug.

Because tufts in a tufted rug are held mainly by adhesive rather than knots, the rug's longevity depends heavily on the condition of its latex backing.

Bhujodi weavers of Kutch traditionally wove coarse handspun woollen blankets for Rabari herders and farmers, often exchanging them for fleece, milk products and grain.

A handloom is a loom worked entirely by hand and foot without electrical power; foot treadles raise and lower sets of warp to open a shed through which the weft is passed.

Jawaja weavers prepare their own warps and wind weft bobbins on a charkha, and an average dhurrie of about 4 x 6 feet takes roughly two to three days on the loom.

A shuttle-pit loom, built from ropes, wooden beams and poles, is common in Indian handloom weaving, with the shuttle thrown by hand from side to side.

Kani weaving in Kashmir, like Kashmiri carpet knotting, relies on a graph-paper design and a talim of coded instructions, woven on a four-pedal loom.

Lepcha weavers of Sikkim combine a cotton ground with multicoloured motifs woven in wool.

India's handloom sector is estimated to involve several million weavers; one Handloom Export Promotion Council figure puts it at about 4.33 million.

Among Navalgund's durrie weavers, the craft has traditionally passed within families, with women who marry into weaving households learning it from their in-laws.

Monpa carpet makers in Tawang traditionally spin wool from local Himalayan sheep by hand, and girls learn to weave from an early age.

Talim is a symbolic notation system used to record carpet designs, capturing colour schemes and the order of knots so a pattern can be reproduced row by row.

The word talim means 'instruction' or 'education' in Urdu, Arabic and Kashmiri, reflecting its role as the written guide a weaver follows at the loom.

In Kashmiri carpet workshops a design is first painted on graph paper by a naqash, with each square standing for one knot; the colour of each knot is then written as coded talim strips.

Depending on size, motifs and palette, a single Kashmiri carpet design can require a few hundred talim strips, with craft researchers citing roughly 200 to 800 or more.

The word dhurrie is often traced to the Sanskrit 'dhurika', though this etymology appears mainly in trade and secondary sources.

Gabba embroidery is traditionally worked with an aari hook in chain stitch, which also holds the base layers and appliqué together.

'Kal baffi' is the local Kashmiri term for hand-knotted carpet weaving, a craft traditionally linked to Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, who brought weavers from Persia and Central Asia in the 15th century.

MAP Academy notes that pile carpets and rugs in India have been known by several names, including alcatif, qali, dari and shatranji.