TIBETAN RUG PROCESS

The craft of Tibetan Carpet weaving is one of the most ancient and exotic crafts in Tibet. This skill was developed in 7th century by East Turkistan and Mongolian nomads.

After the Chinese invasion of Tibet in year 1959, His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled to India followed by Thousands of his Tibetan people who sought asylum in India, Bhutan and Nepal.

His majesty government of Nepal (HMG) was very kind to enough to provide shelter for rehabilitation of the Tibetans in different parts of Nepal. For those who could reach kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, HMG has so kindly allotted the land in Jawalakhel area for the rehabilitation of the Tibetan refugees. Most of the Tibetan refugees were experienced and expert carpet weaver in Tibet prior to their arrival in Nepal in 1959. Having known the availability of such skilled weavers, the International Committee for Red Cross and Swiss Association for Technical Assistance (SATA) now called Swiss Development Corporation had initiated with influx of Tibetan refugees in the early sixties. Credit goes to SATA for their contribution in the development of the carpet Industry in Nepal through financial & technical support the Refugees settlement programs.

Production process:

Prior to 1984, no machineries were used in the production process. The whole process from the sorting of the wool to the packaging stage of the finished product was carried our by hand process. The production process of Nepalese Tibetan carpet includes:

Wool sorting & washing:

Wool from Tibet is generally imported in raw form requiring careful sorting to pick-out the foreign particles such as vegetables materials. The Tibetan wool also requires washing to remove dirt and executive grease, which is followed by sun drying for two to three days. The Tibetan wool has strong good fiber, good luster, and a high resilient value. The New Zealand wool is 36 micron, 100mm barb length and is identified as type 128. British wool meeting regulatory standard have also started being available in the market.

Carding:

The carding process allows the fiber 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.

Spinning:

The carded wool is spun into yarn by hand using charka (spinning wheel). The thickness of the yarn depends on the quality of the carpet and generally a 3-ply yarn is used.

Dyeing:

The traditional pot dyeing method had been largely replaced by machine dyeing in closed chambers. Dues containing harmful substances such as AZO are banned and dyestuffs from renowned international manufacturers are used. These dyes hare a high degree if fastness. The dyed yarn has to be dried in the Sunlight for one to three days depending on the weather. Pot dyes and Vegetable (natural) dyeing are still being used by some manufacturers.

Knotting:

Carpet knotting is an art by itself. The worker known as the weaver is well trained and skilled in their art and has a very high versatility in knotting. 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 the weaver translates the graphics designs into knots on a carpet. The dyed yarn is made into balls and scissors, iron rod, comb beaters are used as tools.

Trimming:

The finished carpet is taken off the loom and the designs & patterns are curved out by scissors.

Washing and drying:

The rimmed carpet is washed with fresh water chemicals. The washed carper is dried in the sunlight up to four or five days. While the bulk of the carpets are manually washed in Nepal a notable quantity is washed in Switzerland.

Final finishing:

The dried carpet are given the final touch by re-trimming and stretching, where necessary to bring it to as close as ordered size.

Packing:

All washed carpets are rolled and wrapped into polythene sheet and is sealed at each end. Again, it is wrapped is Hessian cloth and sewn. Generally around 14 m2 are packed in each bale.

Quality of Tibetan carpets:

There are quite a few distinctive qualities of Tibetan carpets, which are generally identified by the density of knots. The production is in 60knots, 80knots, 100knots and 150knots and thickness of the pile is 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm, and 9mm respectively. 60knots would have 5.5 to 6.5 kgs in per square meters whereas in 80 knots would have 4.5 to 5.00 kgs per/ m2 and 100knots would have 3.5 to 4.5kgs in per/m2 but weight of the carpet depends on the thickness of Pile.