Silk is one of the
raw materials needed for weaving silk carpets. It is produced by silk worm.
In carpet weaving, use of silk is less than wool and cotton. It is
also used, mostly in some carpets
of Safavid era as Hunting Design of Vienna Museum.
Warp of some
tiny-woven woolen carpets are also of silk, because the weaver could
not use short filament cotton,
owing to its yarn, and put it on loom, as it has no enough resistance
to tolerate the weight of a finished carpet. Sometimes, they use silk
for ornamental designs.
Rugs, wholly made
of silk, have no applied consumption, but are used for wall
decoration, or as a table cloth, ...
Silk, prepared and
spun in Iran is used specially in Kashan. There are a few rugs made of
silk, because it is hard and cold and is not adequate as floor
covering; it is an expensive product and an ornamental carpet.
Silk has various
kinds, such as:
1- Raw silk, produced directly out of cocoon and changed to yarn by a
special machine or hand wheel.
2- Silk dross, which is gained from the end of filaments, and
remaining of cocoon.
3- Head spun silk, is a yarn produced directly from cocoon, spun by
hand.
4- Processed silk, which the gum of filament is extracted.
The weight,
relatively of warp and weft and pile in woolen or silk carpets,
considering type of weaving, are:
Warp: 12 to 20 percent
Weft: 10 to 18 percent
Pile: 50 to 70 percent
As a general rule, could consider that 15% of total weight of a carpet
is warp, 15% weft, and the rest belongs to the pile of the carpet.
It has to be
noticed, that viscose filaments have a similarity appearance with
silk; therefore, some weavers may use those filaments and sell a
carpet instead of silk. To distinguish between these two materials,
one could steep the yarn, consequently the filaments of viscose tear
of easily, but silk filament resist much longer.
To utilize silk
adequately in carpet weaving, following process has to be accomplished
on silk:
1- "Naghadi": Means opening the skein of raw silk and change
it into skein by traditional apparatus, called "Charkh-cheh".
2- "Kubi": Means producing multi-layer silk for utilizing in
carpets.
3- "Tadil": Means elevation of number of layers of a silk
skein, already prepared by "Kubi".
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