Know what is the Difference Between Hand Knotted and Machine-Made Rugs.

Your home is an expression of your taste, beliefs, comfort and style. As you work on the aesthetics of your home’s interior, a little research on the rugs you use will go a long way. A rug is a piece of art which lends warmth, colour and coziness to your space. Rug making is an age old art and involves complex, pain staking effort. The artisans put in a lot of man hours into these signature pieces. Rugs are exported around the world from India and have found space at many a proud spots. Owning a beautiful will definite add to the oomph of your home.
While you decide on the rug you want to buy, you must have a very clear understanding of how a rug is made and the difference between a hand knotted and machine-made rug.

A rug is essentially a thick material that covers a part of the floor. Rugs were originally hand woven, but in the wake of industrialization and mass production, the power loom is extensively used. There, however, remains an intrinsic difference between the handmade and machine made products.
As is obvious, handmade rugs are ranked higher than its machine made counterparts. The human labour and craftsmanship involved make it more expensive too. These rugs have a character of its own and shall make its presence felt. The material of the rug is as important as the design because it lends durability and contributes to the overall impression in terms of colour and feel. Traditionally, the materials used in rug making are:

• Wool
• Cotton
• Silk
• Dyes
• Camel hair
• Banana silk
• Viscose

Over the years, the technique used in rug making around the world has remained highly unchanged. The way to identify the quality of a rug is not its design but the material and technique of weaving. The use of natural ingredients when used in weaving has a distinct way of ageing. It also determines the sheen and texture to the finished product.

Rug making by hand, which started as a tribal art some 2500 years ago, involves processes mentioned below:

1. Wool is first turned into yarn.Wool is the most popular material used in rug making as it is strong, soft, long lasting and  beautiful. Once the wool is acquired, it is separated by hand to break clumps and remove foreign materials. Then a machine is used to pull them into individual strands which are then spun by hand, using very basic spinning wheels, into yarns.
2. The washing of the yarn.The yarn is then cleaned thoroughly and sun dried.It takes around 3-4 days to dry the yarn.
3. The yarn is dyed.The clean and dry yarn in soaked in a dye created by using both natural and synthetic materials.To get the desired colour the dye needs to be heated to a boiling temperature for a measured period. The longer the time given, the darker the shade.
4. Weaving of the rug.Weaving comprises knotting, tufting and hooking.
   Knotting: A design is drawn on a special graph paper and then a frame is prepared using stretched columns of thread called warps, vertically down the loom. The warps are usually of cotton. Then the yarn is weaved knot by knot using the Turkish, Persian or Tibetan knot.
   Tufting: A primary design is drawn by stencil on a cotton backing material and attached to a frame. Tufts of wool are inserted into the backing material using tufting tools. Then it is covered with a latex material and a secondary backing material is attached. The surface loop is then sheared and a flat dense pile is created.
   Hooking: After the selecting the design, pattern and colour, the weavers weave magic. They use a scaffolding system which allows them to raise and lower themselves along the entire length of the rug. Specialized tools are used to push the yarn back and forth.
5. Then the rugs are finally washed and dried.
   

The above process is the simplest of the techniques. When weaving with hand, there are a huge variety of complex knots which are both symmetric and asymmetric. The various kinds of weaves make a wide plethora of designs and textures. The time taken to complete a rug by hand varies from a month to years.

Machine made rugs are on the other hand are produced using a computer programmed and automated machines. The same length, design can be used to make a large number of rugs. It is a much faster process and sold at a much lower price.

You will know whether the rugs are handmade or machine made by noticing the following:

• Fringe of the rug: If the fringe is an extension of the rugs, then you can easily find out that it is a handmade rug, wherein if the fringe is added afterward then it is a machine-made rug. 
• Edge finishing of rugs: If you see any type of binding or surging used, then you are looking at a machine-made rug, and on the other hand, if there are no stitches visible then it’s a handmade rug.
• The back of the rug: When looking at the back of the rugs, if you find that the back is not even then this alone is a good sign that the rug is a handmade rug. The more details showed on the back of the rug the better the quality of the rug.

The difference between handmade and machine made rugs at a glance:
1. Every design of a handmade rug is unique while machine made rugs are produced in large quantities.

2. Handmade rugs take a long time to make while machine makes the rugs rather quicky.

3. Handmade rugs are costlier than the machine made ones.

4. Handmade rugs age beautifully.

5. Handmade rugs have antique value.