Antique Chinese Peking Dragon Rug from Richard Rothstein of http://www.richardrothstein.com the great Philadelphia Area Oriental Rug store. Antique Chinese Peking Bat Mat Rug from Richard Rothstein of http://www.richardrothstein.com the great Philadelphia Area Oriental Rug store.
The
Dyeing of Chinese Rugs. American lovers of oriental rugs are
becoming increasingly familiar with the products of Chinese looms. The
methods
of dyeing the yarn used in these rugs
are
exceedingly primitive, but the-colors
obtained are
exceptionally fast. The following account of the materials employed and
the
method of application recently appeared in "The Dyer and Calico
Printer," and is of general interest: The wool that enters into
Chinese carpets is grown in The Ninghsia dyes never fade,
but gain in lustre as they
age. A twenty-four-year-old carpet, far from being worn out, has a
silky
brilliance and gloss which cannot be imitated. The native dyes used in Peking, when properly set,
will outlast the carpet, and
nothing has yet been discovered in the carpet, if the dyer has
done his work conscientiously.
Actual experiment has shown that it is possible to boil a new rug to
shreds
without extracting the dye out of the yarn. Each rug maker does his own
dyeing to match the colors in
the design submitted to him. At one dyeing he makes enough to finish
the
carpets, so that there can be no possible variation in shade, and he
has his
whole supply of the various colors dyed, set and dried, ready for the
client's
inspection before he sets his men to work on the loom. Minerals are
rarely
used. Their blue is indigo; the locust tree, which also yields black;
brown
comes from a kind of acorn husk; purple trom hollyhocks: and yellows,
reds,
greens and other shades from various native woods, mostly cheap and
abundant. The dyer takes as much dyewood
or seed as his judgment
prompts him to use, throws it into a great pot of boiling water, and
when the
liquid takes on color throws in the yarn, and sets a man to stir it.
The fixing
of the colors is done with alum. A rug made partly with yarn dyed with
the
native vegetable dyes and partly with aniline dyes fades in streaks and
patches, and betrays itself in a few months, but the colors in a
well-dyed The recent carpet boom has
made the Chinese carpet an
article of trade, and has given it the status, of a useful and
ornamental floor
covering. The successful buyers in the carpet centres have worked hard
to
impress their ideas upon the native artists, with the result that the
Chinese
are developing a perception of color and arrangement as the foreigner
sees
them, and are relegating their old patterns to the dust-bins. Chinese Indigo. A
consular report states, that
the cultivation of indigo has been notably augmented in the Swatow
district, Chemical age: Volume 26 - Page 22 1917Thanks and best wishes, J. Barry O'Connell Jr. |
Persian
Rugs the O'Connell Guides
|
