Navajo RugHand weaving
Hand weaving, starting 1000 years ago as a Nomadic craft in the Middle East and has left us with little recorded information as to the origin of designs. Generally, traders have effected the majority of influence over patterns, color, and quality control. From the earliest experimentation with lines and angles, weavers have continually adapted and absorbed ideas from other cultures to upgrade the craft.
Today, the same traditions of weaving still endure, with wool still being spun by local people from local sheep and some dyes still being made from plants. What is clear, is that tradition is unlikely to die out in the unforeseeable future, as there are groups of wandering nomads who continue in their old ways as long as there is land for them to live on. The semi-nomadic folk of the villages are still weaving the same patterns and styles as they have always done.
It was in a barren atmosphere of cold, famine and Indian arrows that America's earliest rugs were made. That they were escapist in some measure for their makers is apparent from the many records of rug making as recreation. But the recreation aspect was merely a small facet of an occupation that was motivated by necessity.
Primarily rugs were a utility for keeping droughts and chill off the floors and to give the early homes a less makeshift, less transient appearance. The crude homes of the settlers were hardly more than four walls and a roof with anything serving the essential purpose of bed, chair and table. Many of these people had left moderately comfortable furniture abroad but the crowded, hazardous boats in which they came had no surplus space for their possessions. The houses they erected in the wilderness had to be habitable and the ruthless winds had to be kept away- from the damp, draughty floors.
In the first days those floors were only bare earth, which became actually boggy in wet weather. As soon as possible the men wooded them over, but while this helped the mud problem, it did not do much for the wind and cold. To provide a little warmth sand was strewn cm the floors, almost an inch deep, to seal the cracks. When the sand became dirty, it was tossed out and a new supply brought from the beach. Sometimes it was raked and brushed into a simple design such was the hunger for attractiveness despite the obvious futility of keeping it in order, for, of course, the first footprint ruined it. Conditions remained thus until about 1680.
Toward the close of the century there was a little more time to survey the home and add to its meager comfort. One of the ways this was accomplished was to use sailcloth in room size. The material was painted heavily on both sides, with about eight coats of filler, and laid upon the floor. The exposed upper surface was then painted in tile-like patterns of contrasting colors, looking, oddly enough, like our modern linoleum. These painted floor cloths were used chiefly in the better houses. Others used small pieces under tables and similar strategic spots. By 1720 this fashion was being imitated by the middle classes who had typical designs painted directly on the floor itself.
It was on floors like these-either painted floor cloth or painted floor that rugs, if, when and as available, were used. This accounts for the anachronistic presence of what seems to be marble or tiled floors in portraits painted before 1180. Before the American Revolution, woven floor coverings, aside from domestic rag carpets, were practically unknown in this country. Although a few "Scots" ("ingrain" carpets from Europe) had found their way into some private city houses, these were such a rarity that visitors who entered rooms where they were laid tiptoed around them in awe so as not to harm them.
Up to 1776 the floor covering in most general use throughout the colonies was the rag carpet, made with a stout flax or cotton warp supplied by farmhouse spinning wheels. The early settlers, particularly in New England, had been accustomed to such occupations as spinning and weaving in their homeland, and as long as English ships brought over adequate supplies there had been no pressing need for such activity in the New World. However, there were frequent interruptions of such communication, as when English ships bringing supplies to the colonies were captured by the French during the French and Indian wars, and on other occasions. At such times the want of clothing and textiles, especially in rigorous New England, caused much suffering and compelled the women of the colonies to use their ingenuity, their spinning wheels and all their resources to meet the continual emergencies.
The frontier women, never finished with work, called it recreation to go to spinning frolics, quilting parties and sewing bees. It was not unusual in colonial days to see a woman on a horse, with her spinning wheel rigged up behind her, setting off on a long ride through the wilderness for a few hours of gossip and work of this kind. It is against this background that the story of American rugs unfolds.
The best-known native textile art in North America is the weaving of Navajo Indian blankets and rugs. These impressive rugs are still made in a style that was traditional in Mexico and the southwest United States long before the arrival of Europeans: kneeling before a vertical wooden-frame loom and using a shuttle to weave colored threads together into large-scale geometric designs. Originally Navajo and other Southwest Indian blankets were made of hand-spun cotton thread, but after the Spanish brought domestic sheep to the region the people primarily switched to wool. Though Navajo rugs are the most famous weaving in North America, they are certainly not the only one. Finger-weaving has been important throughout the continent since ancient times, and finger-woven blankets, tapestries, and clothing are still made in many tribes. The chilkat blankets of Tlingit people are one of the finest examples of finger-woven Indian blankets. Seminole sashes and patchwork are another important Indian textile art. A more recent tradition is star quilts or blankets, which originated among the Sioux tribes (Lakota, Dakota, and Nakoda/Assiniboine) and spread throughout the Great Plains. Quilting was one of many crafting techniques that Native Americans borrowed from European traditions and adapted into something unique to their culture. Star quilts are made by piecing a mosaic of cloth diamonds into the shape of the traditional eight-pointed morning star design of the Sioux. Before the evolution of star quilts, traditional Plains Indian blankets were made from painted, quilled and beaded buffalo hide. When the buffalo herds were exterminated this craft largely died out, but some Plains tribe artists still make buffalo robes and blankets today from the hides of animals raised in captivity.
As we enter the new millennium, these unique treasures are still praised for their magnificent and incredible beauty. It is our mission to clean these rugs with the most practicable and diligent methods. In this way, we are helping to preserve a piece of history.
Geographic and ethnographic barriers created marked differentiation of rugs between weaving districts. The urban areas supported factories where weaving techniques could be refined. But a weaving district was not limited to just the city. In fact, families living in primitive conditions in areas surrounding the town of note did much of the production: Heriz is a small town in the northwest portion of Iran- yet the production of Heriz carpets is huge. This is because a lot of families made them according to set standards in the area. To be kind, these standards were not always strictly enforced. If there was no cotton for a foundation, they might use wool. If madder was in short supply, some other red dye might be used. Therefore, even within an area there is product differentiation. For instance, in the town of Bidjar, many rugs were woven with specific foundation pattern, and these rugs were called Bidjars. But more rugs were woven in the surrounding areas in the homes of "subcontractors" and they were called Bidjars also. The control over the countryside contractors was much weaker than the control held over the factory weavers. As a result, a Bidjar can vary according to location.
The documented history of rugs increases greatly for rugs from the 17th century onward. It is easy to see the changes since the 16th century are relatively minor, although patterns for general areas changed. In a series of books Oriental Rugs-Persian by Eric Aschenbrenner, the issue of geographic barriers to transportation and ethnographic barriers and how they affected the weaving of rugs. These barriers of transportation are the major reason that Persian rugs are such an art forms whereas rugs from India and Pakistan have never achieved this status.
The Old Testament regarded carpets as precious artifacts in the building of King Solomon's Temple (1014-965 BC). It talks about a fine curtain of red, purple and blue with cherubim woven into it by a skilled craftsman.
History of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC) is also colored with images of carpet weaving. He ruled Babylon and much of the Middle East. Each of his conquests resulted in a generous bounty of carpets and rugs. Unfortunately, wool textiles oxidize and crumble with the passage of time. There are carpet fragments dating from the 5th century that have been found throughout the Middle East. This seems to indicate that that the weaving art was highly perfected by that time. So we can see that the Scythians were not the only weavers.
Although historians have not been able to pinpoint exactly when knotted Navajo Rugs were first made, it seems probable that they have been around since human civilization began. Man first began using animal furs as clothing and flooring, but as animals became domesticated and farming increased, the use of sheared wool and silk became mediums for weaving.
There are theories about the weaving of rugs originating with the Egyptians, Chinese and even Mayans. What is clear, however, is that as with most things in nomadic life, the origins were based on clothing and shelter not ornamentation. The nomadic people would have used wool from their own flocks of sheep to weave makeshift floor coverings, blankets and even tent coverings. The style of these coverings has changed little over thousands of years, but the designs have changed dramatically.
Yeibichai Rugs & Yei Rugs
Yeibichai and Yei rugs refer to rug designs that depict Yei, a Navajo Holy Person and the important nine day ceremonial dance that involves them. Over one hundred fifty years ago weavers deviated from the elders who did not want the sacred images to be used in weaving and started depicting the sacred dance and Yei dancers in their weaving. Although it was at first controversial to depict sacred images in the weaving, the tradition persisted and now there is a long history of Yei and Yeibichai rugs. Today, Navajo (Dine') people hang the Yeibichai rugs over their front doorway, which usually faces east, as a guard against evil and to honor the Sky and Earth.
Hand weaving, starting 1000 years ago as a Nomadic craft in the Middle East and has left us with little recorded information as to the origin of designs. Generally, traders have effected the majority of influence over patterns, color, and quality control. From the earliest experimentation with lines and angles, weavers have continually adapted and absorbed ideas from other cultures to upgrade the craft.,/p>
Oriental Carpet Weaving
Oriental carpet weaving as an art form, however, has now been accurately traced back to the 5th century BC. In 1947, Russian archaeologists excavating in the Pazyryk Valley of Siberia, near the outer Mongolian border in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia unearthed a carpet from a burial chamber belonging to a Scythian Chieftain. It had been frozen in ice and was in remarkably good condition. Modern carbon dating has placed it as 2,500 years old. This carpet which measures about 6'7" x 6' is now in the Hermitage Museum at St. Petersburg, Russia. It is hand knotted with a symmetrical knot motif, which is still used in rugs today. The design on the carpet indicates that it was made by the Scythian people and not brought from Persia. Facts like the groups of 7 horses on the border, which link to Scythian traditions of burying 7 horses with a chieftain certainly prove this, along with elk, not normally found in Persia.
Oriental rugs made their way to America in the late seventeenth century. They were used as floor coverings and wall coverings. The nineteenth century Victorian era saw a dramatic increase in demand for the rugs. The bold colors and designs complemented the dark and heavy Victorian furniture. An Oriental Indian rug owned by Cornelieus Vanderbilt sold for $950,000. The American market has always been strong for these beautiful works of art.
In China, carpet making dates back to the period of the Sung Dynasty (960 to 1279 AD). The Chinese produced rugs in factory workshops controlled by the emperors. The designs were characteristic of Buddhism and Taoism. Marco Polo discovered some of the earliest examples of carpets while traveling through China and Turkey in the 13th century. He was an ardent admirer of Chinese rugs.
