Hand-Made Carpet
Some things to know about hand-made carpet.
Some things to know about hand-made carpet.
Hand-made broadloom carpet is fairly new to the carpet industry. At the most it’s been around for 15 years. Until then, only rugs were made by hand, not finished carpet. The most popular brands in the U.S. market come from India with most styles made on hand-operated looms.
Unlike U.S.-made carpet products, which are generally made with a large tufting machine and backed and sheared by large machines, the entire process in India is done by hand. The largest machine used there can be a portable shearing machine – sort of like a floor buffer (with blades) – that is used to shear the loop pile surface of the carpet, resulting in a cut pile.
Because this process is done in small areas, unlike modern shearing, there can be uneven spots. For a carpet like this with random shearing, the variation within the carpet does not usually create an issue with the carpet buyer. What can be an issue is when a carpet requires a seam within a room. If the shearing is random, with height and textural variations, then putting two pieces together to make a seam can be as obvious as putting together two dye lots. In general, mills consider this to be a natural result of using hand-made carpet.
The newer carpets from these mills are now being made extra-wide, 15 ft. – 16 ft., so that fewer seams are required. In some cases, and with some manufacturers, if the seam variation is extreme and unlikely to go away within a few months of use and normal vacuuming, then they will employ someone to visit the home and shear the seam area to make both sides look more alike.
Unlike U.S.-made carpet products, which are generally made with a large tufting machine and backed and sheared by large machines, the entire process in India is done by hand. The largest machine used there can be a portable shearing machine – sort of like a floor buffer (with blades) – that is used to shear the loop pile surface of the carpet, resulting in a cut pile.
Because this process is done in small areas, unlike modern shearing, there can be uneven spots. For a carpet like this with random shearing, the variation within the carpet does not usually create an issue with the carpet buyer. What can be an issue is when a carpet requires a seam within a room. If the shearing is random, with height and textural variations, then putting two pieces together to make a seam can be as obvious as putting together two dye lots. In general, mills consider this to be a natural result of using hand-made carpet.
The newer carpets from these mills are now being made extra-wide, 15 ft. – 16 ft., so that fewer seams are required. In some cases, and with some manufacturers, if the seam variation is extreme and unlikely to go away within a few months of use and normal vacuuming, then they will employ someone to visit the home and shear the seam area to make both sides look more alike.
What makes a carpet loop pile or cut pile?
|
Every carpet and almost every rug is made as loop pile to begin with. It can be a flat loop, like school carpet or have high and low loops, called a textured loop pile, like a berber texture. The process of making it all or part cut pile is done by snipping the tip of the loop pile – so that one loop becomes two ends (two cut-pile tips). When a loop pile carpet is fully sheared – all loops are cut – then it becomes a cut pile carpet (velvet, Saxony, plush, shag, etc.).
When some loop pile is made so it is higher than the surrounding loop pile then it can be sheared at the tip and the lower loop pile is not touched. This can create a cut pile pattern within a loop pile field or rows of cut pile next to rows of loop pile (a ribbed pattern). Or it can be a random pattern. In a random pattern, the high loops are either placed accidentally or put there intentionally in what looks like a random pattern. When the high loops are sheared there is no observable pattern. This is what’s called a random shear texture. |
|
What makes the cut pile of a carpet look like a different color than the loop pile?
Light reflects off of loop pile but when a loop pile is cut, the cut tips absorb light. The effect is that the cut pile always looks darker than the loop pile. The shinier the yarn, like a nylon or silk, the more difference there is between the light loop pile vs. the dark cut pile. And, generally, medium to dark colors show the difference more than light colors. This also explains the effect we get when we see footprints or vacuum marks in cut pile carpet. The pile is crushed away from or toward the light so that footprint or vacuum line will look darker, or lighter, than the surrounding pile.
What’s so great about hand-made carpet?
Hand-made carpet generally means the yarn is also hand-spun. This, to start with, makes the yarn bulkier, which means the carpet it goes into will be thick and textural. Hand-spun yarn also has the ability to have color variation – not just a solid color – making the carpet more natural in appearance. Because the carpet is hand-loomed or hand-tufted there is not the tension on the yarn like there would be if the yarn was feeding into a monstrous tufting machine – so that the carpet has more spring to it.
These steps give us a thick, casual carpet texture that is very desirable in today’s interior selections. Plus, being made in India, the cost for this extra-thick carpet is less than most machine-made carpets of the same fiber and weight.
These steps give us a thick, casual carpet texture that is very desirable in today’s interior selections. Plus, being made in India, the cost for this extra-thick carpet is less than most machine-made carpets of the same fiber and weight.
What about an antique look?
Some hand-made carpets have an extra step whereby the shearing is enhanced in some spots, giving those areas a worn, antique look. This is much like what we do to wood planks (wire brushing, hand-scraping or hammering) to give a distressed appearance. Carpet made like this can have a walked-on look from the first day it’s installed. The flip side to this is that it will have that same antique look for the next 20 years – always looking the same. No amount of use will change its appearance.
Handmade carpet has been described as “perfectly imperfect”.
Everyone’s tastes are different. Some like the bulky, warm, textural look and feel of and hand-loomed carpet. For those who prefer clean lines, a consistent surface texture and nearly invisible seams then it’s not the right choice.
