Videos Of Carpet Making

Carpet Shop In Agra

So after visiting the Taj Mahal, our rickshaw driver took us to a very nice restaurant for some good food. Everyone's stomachs were back to normal so we all ate well. It was stinkin hot outside and the A/C in the restaurant wasn't keeping up that great but it was still better than being outside during the heat of the day. Instead of going to another landmark to see right away, I asked the driver to take us to a carpet shop. He took us to a government run cottage industry where they make carpets on the premises as well as make designs and have a warehouse to supply villagers with yarn and patterns which they make in their villages and return to be sold all over India. It was very interesting and we all ended up buying some carpets which they ship home to the US and Cananda via UPS for free. We purchased them on Monday, May 4th and the UPS dude showed up on my doorstep early Monday morning on the 11th, just 7 days later! Unbelievable!! It takes longer to get a letter from Canada!

Don't hold back Randy....go for it!! Even though James has this "look" on every picture, he really did have some fun and good food on his trip!!
I'm lovin it! Merv is enjoying something Randy said.
I pigged out, now it's time for a nap!!
Here are a couple dudes working on a 5 x 7 carpet. This takes them about 4 months to finish. You complain about your job?
His fingers are flying so fast you can barely see them. It's crazy to watch! He ties a knot and cuts it with that curved knife in about 1 second!
Here he is showing us how they trim the carpet for the first time.
This is his partner sitting beside him.
Looking at the back of the loom.
You can see the pattern better on the back until they trim the front.
This is the manager of the shop who was explaining everything to us.
Another dude working on a smaller carpet by himself.
Someone doesn't look very happy right now......
This guy is drawing a pattern by hand for what looks like a pretty big rug.
He erases what he doesn't like and starts over....
These next two dudes fill the pattern in with colors, hand painted. Talk about a never ending job....color color color....on and on
..and on and on...
...and on. Could it get any more tedious or boring? Yes it can!!!
This job is the worst!! This dude takes a tiny little pick and goes through the entire carpet seperating the different colors.
Wherever two colors touch, he goes through and separates them to make the pattern crisp and sharp. After all the trimming during making the rug and the wash, the threads tend to get mixed together where they touch.....
..and this dude separates them before the carpet goes on sale. Talk about a tedious job...this is it.
The showroom upstairs where they lay out carpet after carpet after carpet for us to look at.
Merv picked the 2 x 6 runner on the right as well as a wall hanging of the Taj.
Randy picked the red one at the top. It is a 6 x 9 wool carpet which he got for approx $780 US.
Here is a better look at it. I loved it but it wouldn't go with our house. James bought a 2 x 3 of this same design for approx. $87 US
My choice was between this 6 x 9 blue one...
...or this 6 x 10 brown / yellow one. Pearl had given me colors to look for and this was it so I picked this one. Mine is also wool and cost approx. $870 US. All the carpets we bought were wool on cotton with 550 knots per square inch.
Here is looking at it from the other side. Hand made carpets look lighter from one end and darker from the opposite end. Mine looks great in my living room!!! Pearl loved it!