Before the carpet… was the wool |lepetitjournal.com
It is estimated that the oldest carpet known to date dates from the 5th century BC discovered in an Eastern Siberian tomb, near the Mongolian border, it is from the steppes and is made exclusively in sheep wool.
In order to, originally, for the use of flooring, the carpet offers multiple uses such as obstruction of openings, protection against humidity of walls, making cradles, the creation of partitions allowingIsolate the rest of the occupants of the house (tent, yurt ...).
Subsequently, the carpet becomes decorative, symbolic, didactic, historical, sign of wealth and vehicle of the image that its owner wishes to show his visitors.
Long before it became a luxury object and is woven with rarer materials such as silk, lama, spitz dog, guanaco, mohair, rabbit ..., the carpet is first nomadic, it accompaniesShepherds who raise sheep and goats and therefore, she is in sheep wool or more rarely goat.
Wool...
Wool is a particular form of mammal hair.It protects the animal from the weather and it is all the thicker since the climatic conditions are rough.
It was perhaps by seeing strands of wool torn from the fleeces by the thorny bushes that the men had the idea of recovering these fibers.Alas, no writing informs us at the precise moment when the shepherds are starting to mow their animals.
Very quickly, men understand the interest of this substance whose solidity and the capacities of thermal insulation they will exploit.
It is still necessary to harvest this precious gift of nature and find the means to make it the ideal thread and the steps to get there are numerous.
From sheep to carpet
The mowing: consists in cutting the fleece as close as possible to the skin, traditionally with scissors specially designed for this operation, taking care not to injure the animal.There are two kinds of "instruments": scissors and strength (see illustration below).
Today, the mowing of large herds is mainly using electric mowers.
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The threshing and spraying: the fleece is beaten and shaken to possibly remove the earth, then it is cleaned from all the particles and plant debris.
Washing: the hairs are naturally very fatty because they are coated with saints, fat produced at the same time as wool growth intended to waterproof the hair and protect from the cold.
In order to rid the wool of this fat, it is necessary to wash it several times, beat it, rinse it, press it and dry it.
Once degreased, washed and dried, the fibers separate and the wool has a more airy and larger appearance.
Carding: This operation consists in disentangling the wool to separate the hairs and allow spinning.The origin of the word carding comes from the word thistle, plant bristling with spines that grow along the paths.Formerly, before the invention of the various card tools, we rubbed the fleeces with bouquets of thistles to pull the wool threads and make them cleaner and more flexible.
After the carding operation, the fibers are well detached from each other and the wool presents itself in a lighter and vaporous appearance.It is after this work that wool will be able to be spun.
Spinning: it is the art of making, from irregular filaments of carded wool, a continuous wire, the most regular, solid and flexible possible, intended for the future making of canvas, knitting, carpet ...
Originally the traditional spinning was made using spindles in nomads or wheels in sedentary, due to its size.Once the spinning is finished, the ecru woolen wire was wrapped in skeins that could be used as it is or tinted as needed.
The dye: Depending on the desired use, the wool can be tinted in different colors obtained by soaking in various decorations of plants or roots allowing either directly or by mixing, obtaining the desired shade.There are about fifty so -called tinctorial plants, the best known of which are: indigo, pastel (blue) - walnut, sumac (brown and black) - chamomile, hemp (yellow) - turmeric, saffron (Orange) - Garance, Roucou (red) - Orchilla and Orseille (purple purple), fern, fig tree (green)…
In order to obtain the desired density we carry out one or more dips.To prevent the color from disappearing in washing, it is fixed depending on the case, by exposure to air and light or soaking in fermented urine*.
Once tinted, the skeins are suspended from wooden rods, in the open air to accelerate drying.Wool is finally ready to be used.
Weaving: all operations prior to making, preparation and coloring being finished, now remains to orient wool towards the profession adapted to its final destination: cover, clothes, carpets ... But, that's another storywho starts !
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(*) On this subject, let us remember that the Vespasian emperor who reigned from 69 to 79 AD had the excellent idea, in order to fill the boxes of the State, to have the edicts in which the population was installed in which the population washolding to urinate for the payment of a tax.This presented the double advantage of immediately perceiving the financial participation of users but also of constituting a stock of urine which was sold to dyers.To his son Titus who reproached him for having imposed a tax on a very natural need, Vespasian presented him with a handful of money and made him feel."Do you think this money smells bad? And yet it is urine."From this highly historical episode remain two memories of us;The name of Vespasians given to the edicts intended for this activity and the proverb "money has no smell" explicit enough not to require more explanations ...
