Kilim: An ancient weaving art still kept alive

Kilim: An ancient weaving art still kept alive

Kilim, an ancient craft tradition, represents an aesthetic heritage that is still kept alive by the nomadic tribes who are the creators of this craft. The most popular use of this ancient weaving craft in making carpets and rugs. The history of Kilim is so ancient that ascertaining its origins is very knotty as the craft is believed to have originated even before the man learned to write! That is why Kilim is way different when compared to other oriental rugs. They are a different class altogether.

The Weaving and Pattern

The design and visible patterns on the pile rugs consists of various individual short strands of different shades that are knotted onto the warps. By pressing the wefts tightly the strands are held together. Kilims, on the other hand, uses a different weaving technique known as flatweave. Flatweave is a technique where the wefts and warps of different colors are interweaved to make different designs. Slit Weave is also employed in weaving Kilim where the slit or a certain gap is left between two different colors.

The diagonally patterned wefts that are packed tightly cover the warp completely and to provide required strength that is not possible with vertical slits. The technique also helps in producing sharp and bold patterns that requires more freedom to produce. Such freedom is not possible with plain weave. This technique results in popularity of geometrically shaped kilims. But other patterns like floral patterns are also available

Loom

 

Two different kinds of loom are employed to make kilim. While fixed vertical loom is favored by villagers, the nomads use the horizontal ground loom that offers high level of portability. This type of loom is held intact by stakes that are driven into the ground.

Adjustable loom employs a mechanism that also the completed horizontal kilim section to be moved out of the way of the person who is weaving. It is generally found in contemporary trend of * kilim* that is much more sophisticated in approach.

Beating Comb

A beating comb can, in simplest terms, be described as a large and crude comb that seems very similar to hair comb. Made of different materials like horn, wood, bone, metal and other combinations, this comb uses to beat down the weft lines in such  a manner that succeeding lines are beaten down against the preceding lines hence ensuring the tightly woven rug,

The shuttle is a stick that has several notches towards the end. The end of weft is placed in the notch while the shuttle is inserted between alternate warps that helps in producing a weave. However many experienced craftspersons might prefer to use hands to pass weft between warps.

Material

Wool is the most popular material with which the kilim is produced. Most popularly only wool is used to make the kilim but sometimes the it can be mixed with other materials too.

Read More:- Chokhi.com

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