Oriental silk rugs
Oriental silk rugs
Trust your silk rug only to a professional like carpet cleaners chelmsford for cleaning.
When a silk rug is advertised by the producer as made form 100% silk fibres this has to mean only one: the fibres used in the rug are a fibrous protein, which can be described by the chemical formula C15H23O6N5.
The natural silk is a fibre drawn by the cocoon of the silkworm – the pupal form of the Asian silk moth. This insect is known as well as a mulberry moth or bombyx mori.
The silk fibre is obtained by heating and boiling the cocoons in order to kill the silkworms. This procedure is followed by a techniques for drawing and unwinding the single silk filament, which forms the whole cocoon. The fibres obtained are processed so as to form a sliver of silk fibres. The sliver is finally spun into a yarn, which is later frequently doubled. The silk yarn is usually very thin and obtains unique properties. Among its most important characteristics are the brilliance and the very soft handle. The silk yarns dye very well and the colours are reach with great saturation and lustre.
One has to be careful when buying silk carpets, as some dealers sell the so-called “artificial silk carpets”. Artificial silk carpets means rugs from mercerised cotton, viscose or even blends of these fibres with synthetic man-made fibres. However in many silk rugs the warp or the weft threads can be cotton yarns. It is considered that a rug is a silk one when having at least 80% silk fibres.
Usually a weft thread follows every row of knots. The knots are tied in rows on the foundation of warp and weft threads and form the pile of the rug.
Natural dyes are used for obtaining the colours of the silk threads. The process of weaving takes a lot of time – up to 6 years for a dining room carpet.
Persian silk carpets had the oldest history and they have much more decorative value than any other style of carpets. They are rich in symbols and motifs, describing the nature: vases, trees, mehrabs, flowers, animals, twines, wines and stars… Persian silk rugs give the best comfort, being rich in colours and spirit.
Turkish silk rugs are among the best in the world with over 1,4 million knots per square meter. They used 2 types of knots: the Turkish “Ghordes” knot, which is typically double-wefted and the Persian knot, which is typically single-wefted. Several other types of knots are used as variations of these two. The design of Turkish silk rugs is close to the Persian design, having similar elements, but it is more “human”. It is considered that the rug elements tell the story of the weaver’s life.
Indian silk rugs and particularly Kashmir silk rugs are also well known, having at about 400 knots per square inch. Although they are made mostly in Persian style, they have own face due to the particular harmony of the colours. Many of the artificial silk rugs come from this region as well.
The Chinese silk carpets are greatly influenced with Buddhism and Taoism. The typical symbols used are swastika, dragon and bat as a symbol of luck. Black, blue, red, white, beige and yellow are the most frequently used colours.
It is really great and very expensive to be an owner of a silk carpet, no matter how you will use it: to place it on the floor or for decoration purposes. Being made from protein fibres (like the wool fibres), your silk rug needs special, better professional care, in order to be in best condition for very long time.