Rugs are used extensively, in homes and otherwise, to bring out style and elegance to any floor space. A striking rug could change any simple and plain room into sophisticated and graceful. There are different types of rugs available in the market. You would find wool rugs, cotton rugs, rugs made by synthetic fibre and so on. There are also traditional rugs and modern contemporary rugs.
Wool rugs have been around for centuries now. They are popular because of the innate features of the material with which they are created, that is, the wool. Wool refers to the fibre made using the follicles of animals such as sheep, goat, rabbit, llamas etc. Sheep is the most common source of wool. Wool fibre is elastic and has the ability to absorb moisture to a great extent. Its structure and properties makes it idyllic for the purpose of insulation. And the life span of wool is much longer than other fibres. Hence, it makes an excellent material for rug-making, compared to others.
Wool Rug making was a lucrative business, which flourished in Europe, and was an important industry in Italy and Greece. The fact that cotton fibre from India and silk from China which were not readily available raw materials in Europe helped tremendously the local wool-based manufacturing concerns.
Wool rugs can be manufactured either manually or by machine. Handmade Wool Rugs are comparatively more expensive, due to the extent of effort and time involved in their making. The threads used are the warp, which are long, basic threads, and weft, which cross the warp threads.
Handmade Wool Rugs are created in different methods. Hand Tufting is the most common and easy method, which uses a manual gun which shoots yarn into the basic framework of the wool rug. This framework is then backed by another layer, to give it strength, and then more hand embroidery is done to finish the piece.
Hand Loom Wool Rugs which use hand and foot-operated manual looms, are widely manufactured in Asian countries like India. Another traditional method is the Hand Knotted Method, which is done by knotting each tuft of wool into the rug warp. This is extremely time-consuming, and therefore very expensive.
Kilim Rugs are bulky wool rugs which are made by motifs interwoven through wefts and warps. These maybe produced either by handloom or power loom.
Wool Rugs are also manufactured with the help of machines. Mechanised Rug making is faster than manual methods, and much cheaper. Looms are used for production of such area rugs, the most popular being the Wilton Loom, which result in two pieces of rugs in a single run. Mechanised Rug Making is more popular in USA and Europe.