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Carpet Manufacturing Process |
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Manufacturing Process
>> Hand Made carpets |
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Hand-made
carpets are traditionally more expensive
than those made by machines. Though
there are several carpet-making methods,
including braiding, hand tying (or hand
knotting), hooking, shearing and
tufting, the most common of these are
braiding and hand knotting.
Braided carpets are done by connecting
or tying strips of fabrics together.
Hand tying or hand-knotting are usually
done on rugs. Countries that are known
to produce beautifully crafted
hand-knotted rugs include Spain,
Portugal, India, Pakistan, Turkey,
Afghanistan and Japan (among others).
Hand-knotted rugs are descendants of
Oriental Rugs and can be made in any
shape, size, coloured or design.
Process
The process
that creates a hand-made/hand-knotted
carpet can be explained as under: |
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Wool sorting & Washing
Wool is either imported or is
bought from nearby markets and
is carefully sorted to pick out
unwanted particles. Wool often
carries dust, grease which is
removed by washing it thoroughly
and is then sun dried for
two-three days.
The Tibetan wool has a strong
good fibre length is imported in
scoured form, good lustre and a
high resilient value. The New
Zealand wool is of 36 micron,
100 mm barb length and is
identified as type 128. British
wool meeting regulatory
standards have also started
being available in the market.
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Carding
The carding process allows the
fibre stand to flow smoothly
when spinning. This is also the
stage for blending different
wools and to ascertain the ratio
of different origins.
Traditionally, carding was
performed by hand and machine
carding was introduced when the
industry grew. However hand
carded product is still
available if a customer so
desires. |
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Spinning
The carded wool is spun into
yarn by using a charkha or a
spinning wheel. The thickness of
the yarn depends on the quality
of the carpet and generally a 3
ply yarn is used. |
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Dyeing
The traditional pot dyeing
method has been largely replaced
by machine dyeing in closed
Chambers. Dyes containing
harmful substances such as AZO
are banned and dye-stuffs from
renowned international
manufacturers are used. These
dyes have a high degree of
fastness. Depending on the
weather, the dyed yarn has to be
dried in the sunlight for one to
three days. Pot dyeing and
vegetable (natural) dyeing are
still being used by some
manufacturers. |
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Carpet Knotting
Knotting is an art. Weavers who
weave on a regular basis have a
very good speed in knotting.
They tend to develop this speed
over a span of time. One or more
weavers work on a loom depending
on the size of the carpet. Each
weaver makes individual knots
row after row. The designs are
chartered out on a graph and a
map reader or another weaver
instructs the graphic designs to
the ones knotting the carpet.
The dyed yarn is made into balls
and scissors, iron rod, levers,
comb beaters are used as tools.
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Trimming
The finished carpet is taken off
from the loom and the designs &
patterns are trimmed by
scissors. |
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Washing and Drying
The trimmed carpet is washed
with the fresh water &
chemicals. The washed carpet is
dried in the sunlight up to four
or five days. |
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Final Touches
The dried carpets are given
final touches by re-trimming and
stretching, where ever
necessary. The purpose is to
bring the fabric woven in level
at the surface. |
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Packing
All washed carpets are rolled
and wrapped in polythene sheet
and is sealed at each end.
Again, it is wrapped in Hessian
cloth and sewn. Generally,
around 14m2 are packed in each
bale. |
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Payment
Export proceeds must be received through
an irrevocable letter of credit (L/C) or
advance payment. |
