Durries and Carpet Weaving - Bhadohi
Shearing of the sheep for wool is taken place, and then Scouring happens which is nothing but cleaning of the fleece wool from grease, sweat and dusty particles with hot water and detergents. Later the clean woolen is separated and kept for drying. It is then processed to roving (carding or combing or wool batting), in which the wool is untangled, blended with blending hackle and separated with two wide metal-needled brushes called hand carders. Combing makes all the fibers run in the same direction, parallel to each other strands like a soft mat (loose woolen felt) thus the connectivity of the yarn is easily acquired while spinning. The combed wool is pulled over a hole through appropriate measurements in millimeters, which gives the wool a basic linear strength and size that is rolled into a loose ball and sent it for twisting and spinning. The roved loose woolen ball (fibers) is unfastened and pre-drafted for the easy twisting of the yarn. Once the appropriate diameter of the yarn is achieved it is then spun to the stick or a bobbin with the help of spinning machine. It is two gradual processes happening together spinning and pre-drafting the wool. The woolen yarn is winded into a wool hank, which is later used in further process.
Dyeing can be done after scouring or after spinning. The wool dyed after scouring that is washing is called, as stock dyed wool were the wool is still a staple fiber. If the wool is dyed after it is spun into yarn is called as hank yarn dyed. There are two types of dyes one is natural dyes extracted from plants (indigo, pomegranate peel, harad, mangeetha, etc) and the other one is chemical dyes generally used in large manufacturing industries. Quality differs in these two different methods of dying. Dyeing can be done in both smaller scale like in small tubs at the artisans place or in bigger scale like in dyeing factories with huge machineries like dye bath.
Dye bath is a huge container with boiling amenities and draining possibilities. The huge container consists of water and dye colors respectively with the temperature of 98 centigrade at a rate of 1-2 degree per minute. The hank yarn is hung on the rotating rods of the dye machine, were the yarn is dyed on each strand by rotating the yarn into the solution and immersing it. Once the required shade is achieved the yarn is taken out and dried, were the dye process lasts for 60 minutes approximately. After dyeing the hank yarn bundle is handed over for weaving.
Dyed hank yarn is untangled and spun tight to the spindles (weft yarn) and to spools (warp yarn) in process of reeling, which is usually done on the charkha, for the better organization of materials while weaving. In weaving there are two very important parts called weft yarn and warp yarn. Weft yarns are generally the dyed ones and are spun to spindles. The warp yarns are reeled onto the spools, which later it is reeled against the warping wheel in process of untangling and setting the yarn to the loom as a base.
Weaving of carpet is made in many ways, like Knotted by hands; Flat woven; Horizontal loom; Vertical loom; Needle felt; Hand tufted; Rug Hooking; Indo-Tibetan low, medium and high knots; and many more ways.
Warp yarn is generally attached to two beams of the loom that is upper beam and lower beam. In the warp wheel the yarns are winded in account of the yarns necessary in warp for weaving. Once the warp yarn wound has completed a round in the warp wheel the yarn changes the position, this position is generally marked with a long thin stick called shed stick; this occurs every time when it makes a round, which later helps in tightening the weave and keeping the carpet firm. The yarns, which change the position at the time of reeling, are alternatively bifurcated into outer warp and inner warp were the triangular wooden sticks called shed sticks are placed in between them. Shed sticks helps in creating a space between the yarns were the weft yarn can easily pass through. After reeling, the warp yarn is fixed to a beam firmly and the beam is fixed to the loom.
In vertical looms there are two beams that are upper beam and lower beam. A reed or a heddle is directed into the loom between the two beams, generally close to the upper beam. Reed is a flat wooden or metallic stick with gaps or holes, were the yarns each strand is passed through the gap in order to get the equidistant space between the yarns. Reed also separates the two warp layers that are outer and inner of the beam.
Hand Knotting (Panja weaving)
The warp yarn is loaded to the vertical loom which is about 25 to 35 feet tall and the carpet design sample or the graph is placed in the front of the artisan. The Graph contains colour coding and design drawn behind the graph. The design drawn behind helps the artisan understands the accurate application of colours in according to the count of warp yarns to accomplish the design. After a while the artisan gets used to pattern and memorize the design. Each weft yarn is knotted to each warp yarn respectively with the hand and then cut it with little extension from the Churra (knife).
Knots are made in various methods like in Turkish (symmetric) knot, Persian (asymmetric) knot (open to the right side), Jufti (various combinations of knots woven around four warps), Weaving with one warp depressed, Tabriz style of weaving (knitting an asymmetric knot with the knitting hook) and many more.
Whereas in Bhadohi the artisans follow the Persian (asymmetric) knot style of weaving, were the artisan, knots on all the warp yarns individually with respect of design and pattern on the graphs. After one whole row is knotted, the knots are beaten with the Panja tool (metal comb) to tighten and compress the yarn. The knot is tied around one warp yarn and the thread is passed behind the adjacent warp so that the two ends of the knotted yarn are divided. The knots longitudinally represent the weft process. After each row the layers of the warp are exchanged till the end of the carpet, which helps the carpet sustain the strength, stiffness and locks the weft between two layers of the warp; like, outer warp layer comes inside and inner warp layer goes outside. After a line of weft knots are done, a very thin and fine cotton yarn is weft inside the warp to tighten the knots and to bind the carpet for the further process. The warp yarns are exchanging their positions after every weft is complete. After certain amount of weaving is done the artisan moves upwards of the warp in the loom to weave. After the whole carpet is weaved and the desired design pattern is acquired, the carpet is finished with finishing knots of the loose ends, which is done by the master weaver.
The carpet is then send to the washer man who washes it multiple times with water, cleansing agent and chemicals on a cement ground surrounded with huge water tanks. After the wash, the carpet is sent to the clipper; who trims, clips off the protruding knots and unwanted threads with the help of pair of scissors, sharped file tool (like an awl) and carpet clippers. Edging (to get the appearance of embossing) and stretching are some of the processes which takes place along the process of clipping. Dusting and cleaning of the carpet is done with huge brushes. Binding of the carpet is the last process before washing of the carpet, where the carpet is ensured from all four sides and the weaves are locked by the stiches. A washing equipment like a wooden stick with a flat woodenhead with slant cut edge is used to push the water and detergents. This tool looks similar to the rowing oar. This process requires massive amount of human strength. Fringes (Kilim ends) closing knots are made at the two wrap ends. Finally the carpet is packed with plastic polythene cover, sealed and sent to the market for sale.
For this complete process of making a carpet, it involves around 25 artisans in which 6 of them alone are weavers. To complete a normal carpet it consumes at a most 6 months.
This form of weaving a carpet is updated to an easier form which reduces the time consumption of producing a carpet; knitting method is implemented where the warp is lifted with a stainless steel rod and a yarn is knitted onto the warp threads in the form of loop knots. The warp yarns here are in single layer. The loops made on the rod are cut with the knife to make a face of the carpet (shredded pile of yarn) in such a way that the knots created on the wrap threads are inter connected. The knots are bitted by the thokri and panja to ensure the weave and tighten the yarns. Later the carpet is finished with the trimming, cleaning and all the finishing processes mentioned above.
