Rug Making &
Manufacturing Process

The first step of carpet manufacturing starts with the strict quality control of the the wool, primary raw material. The wool used by Master Weaver is virgin Tibetan sheep’s wool from North-western Tibet’s ‘Jhanglug’, the aboriginal breed living at the altitude of more than 5000 meter above sea level.

The raw wool is washed in fresh water to remove excess lanolin, soil and stains.

After washing, the wool is sun-dried for two to three days.

A bale of white wool naturally comes with a mix of darker wool that needs to be sorted out for colour consistency in the dyeing process. However for weaving some special textures, the wool is used unsorted.

Lanolin-bound virgin wool needs gentle hand carding to soften it for spinning into yarn. It takes about three days to hand-card the wool for one square meter of carpet. Carding by machines would take a few minutes and reduce production costs significantly. However, it damages the natural structure of the fibre, which in turn weakens the strength of the thread and eventually shortens the life span of the carpet.

Spinning the wool by hand is a gentle procedure that retains the original texture of the fibre. Traditionally, hand-spinning was done using spindles. Nowadays, spindles have been replaced by Charkhas (hand-run spinning wheels). It takes about two days to hand-spin the wool for one square meter of carpet.

Looping the yarn is necessary for dyeing purpose.

Master Weaver chooses the manual dyeing procedure like it was practiced for centuries in Tibet. The wool is dyed in copper pot which gives the Dye Master the freedom for versatility and control over the character and quality of the colour. If, however, strict colour consistency is prioritized, machine dyeing is applied. Depending on the customers’ preference, Master Weaver uses vegetable dyes or Swiss chemical dyes. Together with our celebrated Dye Masters, they have developed several hundred distinct colour shades for exclusive use.

The freshly dyed yarn is sun-dried for a few days.

Balling the yarn facilitates easy useability for weaving.

Based on the size of the carpet to weave, the looms are set by mounting the warp threads over the loom. The warp thread used by Master Weaver is a hand-selected cotton thread, chosen for its strength and structural consistency.

While the loom is being set, a concept for the design is drawn either manually or electronically. This concept is then translated onto graphed design paper. Next the colour shades are chosen. With decades of experience, we skilfully selects the colour shades and create the colour combinations. Yarn samples of the selected colour shades are then made into a chart with code numbers which the weavers have to follow for weaving the design.

Whether a Tibetan carpet is made in Tibet, Nepal or India, the common feature is the ‘Senna knot’. This unique technique originated in Tibet and has remained unchanged for centuries. The ‘Senna’ knot is done by using a metal rod, which is placed horizontally against the warp. The yarn is first looped around two warp threads and then looped one more time around the rod. When the weaver has completed one row of knots the loops around the rod are cut to create the pile of the carpet.

Once the weaving is completed, carpets are taken off the loom by cutting the looped warp threads.

Despite best efforts, some knots remain not fully pulled to the surface of the carpet during the process of weaving. Those knots appear protruding on the back of the carpet. Weavers push each one of them back in the right position using a pointed metal tool.

A newly finished carpet is fuzzy and rough on the surface. To render it smooth and enhance the beauty, the surface of the carpet is clipped with huge scissors or even surface trimming machines. The process is called Khapshu or clipping.

The carpets are washed with fresh water using wooden scrapers, soft brushes and combs to remove excess lanolin and fibres, and to bring up the woolen piles’ inherent lustre. Gentle soaps are used to enhance the softness, sheen and vibrancy of the colours, taking the carpet to a higher level of beauty.

Washed carpets are spread in the sun for drying

Washing the carpet is a vigorous procedure, which potentially distorts the shape of the carpet. This is corrected by fixing the carpet to a metal frame and pulling it uniformly in all directions and leaving it stretched for a day or two.

After re-shaping, the surface of the carpet is clipped one more time. This is to remove the fuzz from the surface caused by the washing process.

Another unique feature of the Tibetan carpet weaving tradition is design sculpting. It requires perfect technique and balance to effectively carve out the full beauty of the design and accentuate the colour nuances. The time required to sculpt one square meter of carpet depends on the intricacy of the design and can vary from one day to one week.

The weaving leaves unsightly white cotton fringes on both ends of the carpet. To solve this aesthetic flaw, the warp threads are sewed off and covered with a matching cotton cloth lining. This procedure also adds to the life span of the carpet as it protects the cotton fringes from being damaged by vacuum cleaning and usage.

At the end of this journey, the Master Weaver carpet of exceptional craftsmanship, aesthetical beauty and lasting value is labeled and signed, guaranteeing compliance with our claims and promises.