While our tour group was in the Ephesus area, we visited a rug making co-operative. The members make rugs by hand. The rugs are beautiful and intricate. They walked us through the process of how they make and dye the threads and then make the rugs. I rather liked the place because the person who was showing us all the steps readily admitted that the exhibits were for the tourists. They dye the threads elsewhere, but I like honesty in tour guides.
First they take silk cocoons and pull the strands out of them.
Silk threads being separated from cocoons
They dye the various threads using natural material. The wool is easier to dye than the silk.
Dyeing thread
Dyed wool threads and natural dyeing material
Dyed wool threads
They make the rugs on looms. Turkish rugs differ from all other rugs because they use a double knot. I couldn’t understand anything else they were doing other than that the person making the rugs has to count threads and follow a pattern the entire time.
Loom
They then showed us rugs in many different styles. They were all gorgeous.
Rolls of rugs
Rugs
Rug