An unintentional variation in yarn color caused by variations in dye lots. It generally appears in the form of horizontal stripes of lighter and darker shades of the same color.
arabesque:
border:
Buddhism:
calligraphy:
cartoon:
cashmere:
cochineal:
dyestuff:
field:
grotesque:
guard bands:
heddle stick:
Hinduism:
huqqa:
Islam:
Jainism:
loom:
madder:
mordant:
mihrab:
millefleur:
naturalism:
pashmina:
pattern:
pile weave:
pointillism:
Rajput:
qanat:
saf or saph:
senneh knot:
shed:
shed stick:
shuttle:
spinning:
spindle:
symmetry:
tapestry:
warp:
weft:
A decorative pattern based on highly stylized foliate forms in which one leaf “grows” out of the tip of another, forming a continuous pattern that seems to have no beginning and no end.
The ornamental or decorative design that runs around the outer edge of a carpet.
One of the world’s great religions, which originated in India in the sixth century B.C. The basic tenets of Buddhism teach that life is impermanent, illusory, and filled with suffering caused by desire and ignorance, which gives rise to a continuous cycle of death and rebirth. The cessation of suffering (nirvana) is achieved when desire and ignorance are extinguished, a state that can be achieved through a life imbued by moderation, morality, and meditative practice.
The art of elegant handwriting; an element in Islamic art and patterns.
A full-size drawing used as a pattern for weaving, especially tapestries or carpets.
A very fine fiber made from the undercoat of Himalayan goats, sometimes called pashmina.
A red dye made from the bodies of crushed insects.
Any natural or synthetic material that can impart color to a fiber or yarn by absorption.
The center portion of the carpet.
A fantastic and unrealistic animal or human form.
Thin areas of pattern that separate the carpet border from the field or run along the outer edge of the border.
A stick that serves as a harness in simple looms. The heddle stick is laid perpendicularly over the warp threads on the loom. Alternate warp threads are attached to the stick with a length of string. When the heddle stick is raised, every other warp thread is pulled up, creating a shed through which the weft yarn can pass. See loom.
One of the world’s most ancient religions, Hinduism is a complex accumulation of beliefs, some intuitive, others based on folk traditions tied closely to nature, and others incorporating highly philosophical and intellectual ideas: time is cyclical, the world is transitory and its appearance is an illusion, and all living beings are continually reborn in different guises. One’s good and bad deeds and thoughts accumulate from life to life and determine the form in which one is reborn. The four goals of life on earth are righteous living, or dharma; wealth acquired through the pursuit of a profession, or artha; human and sexual love, or kama; and spiritual salvation, or moksha.
An Arabic word for the base of a water pipe; sometimes the water pipe itself.
The religion founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the early seventh century A.D., in Mecca, Arabia. The word of God, as revealed to Muhammad, was collected and written in Arabic in the Qur’an. Muslims believe that Muhammad was the final figure in the long line of Old Testament prophets; Jesus is revered as the last prophet before Muhammad. After the death of Muhammad, Islam spread to the Mediterranean lands of the Byzantine Empire (Syria, the Holy Land, and Egypt), the Sasanian area (Iraq and greater Iran), and North Africa, Spain, and parts of India.
An Indian religion founded by Mahavira, a contemporary of the historical Buddha. Jains do not believe in a god or gods; they believe that divinity dwells within every soul. Followers who attain perfect souls are venerated as the Supreme Spirit, and to reach this state one must strive toward right belief, right knowledge, and right action. This religion is probably best known for its practice of noninjury to living beings.
A machine or frame for interlacing two or more sets of thread to form cloth. Simple looms function mainly as holding frames for a series of parallel warp threads, keeping them taut and in their correct order.
A Eurasian plant whose roots provide red dye.
A chemical added to the dye bath to increase the absorption and fastness of the color.
An Arabic word for the niche in the wall of a mosque, indicating the direction of Mecca, toward which prayers are directed.
A French word meaning “a thousand flowers,” used to describe artworks in which the background is covered with individual flowers.
An approach to art in which things are depicted as closely as possible to the way they are visually perceived.
From a Persian term for wool (pashm), meaning the fine, soft fiber spun from the undercoat of Himalayan mountain goats. Pashmina is also known as cashmere.
A design element based on the repetition of a motif or unit according to a grid or plan.
A weave characterized by ends or loops of yarn that are knotted into the structure of the fabric and that protrude from the surface of the fabric. In carpets, the ends are usually clipped to an even length.
A term, usually applied to nineteenth-century paintings, which describes the experimental use of colors applied in tiny “points.” The same effect can be seen in pile carpets when knots of different colors are tied closely together to provide texture, shade, or highlights on a form.
Literally, "king's son," the term refers to the variety of Indo-Aryan castes that made up the Hindu royalty or nobility of northern India.
A Persian word for a portable textile screen surrounding a tent complex.
An Arabic word for a prayer rug incorporating multiple niches.
The kind of knot used by Persian rug weavers; often called the Persian knot.
The space created when warp yarns are raised or lowered for the insertion of weft yarn into the structure. See loom.
A flat stick used to create a shed on a simple loom. By inserting the stick over and under alternating warp threads, then turning the stick on its side, a shed is created through which the yarn on the shuttle can pass. The shed stick is used in combination with the heddle stick; each raises a separate group of warp threads. See loom.
A device upon which the weft yarns are wrapped so that they can be inserted in a shed created in the warp yarns.
The process of twisting and drawing loose fibers into a continuous strand of yarn.
In its simplest form, a weighted disk at the bottom of a long notched shaft that is set in a spinning motion by hand to twist and draw fibers into yarn.
The duplication of a shape or motif in mirrorlike repetition along either side of a central axis.
The mausoleum built in Agra by Shah Jahan for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth in 1631. Over 20,000 craftsmen from India, Asia, and Europe were employed in its construction. Built of white marble, the Taj Mahal is a fusion of Islamic and Hindu architectural styles.
A woven structure in plain weave, in which the weft yarns cover the warp yarns, usually in a discontinuous fashion, creating a decorative pattern or expressive image.
The threads that are placed on the loom lengthwise and parallel to each other; the weft yarns are inserted between them. See loom.
The crosswise threads that are wrapped around a shuttle and interlaced with the parallel warp threads on the loom. Together, the warp and weft provide a foundation for the knotted pile. See loom.