Hearth rug

“ The old city of Herat was under Persian influence, which accounts for the fine character of its rugs. The modern Herat rug is of excellent quality and durable. The leading design is naturally the Herati, and again one sees the palm leaf with its apexes all pointing in the same direction. The field is generally a deep blue, although sometimes a rich red, and even ivory. Green is apt to be the main color [Pg 62] in the border, and occasionally the butterfly motif is noticed. Some of the modern rugs have medallion centres, in which the wool is generally red or blue, and sometimes green or yellow. ”

“ Hardwood floors certainly are nice and seem to wear an air of conscious pride of birth, but their humbler self-made brethren of common pine, stained and varnished or oiled, answer the purpose fully as well. It really amounts to a case of rugs make the floor, for if they are pretty and conveniently disposed about it, the floor itself receives very little attention. Small rugs before bed, dresser, and chiffonier will suffice in a small room, and can be easily taken out and cleaned, but a more commodious room requires the dressed look imparted by the larger rug. ”

“ Do not beat a rug or carpet on the back. That has no defence of nap, and you are liable to break the warp and loosen the knots. Frequent [Pg 138] sweeping is far better than the brutality of constant beating. The wool of a rug is really a sentient thing. However dead it may seem, it has a life and vitality all its own. It can be quickened, rejuvenated, and made alive again by proper washing.
Rugs in our modern houses easily accumulate dust and grime and smoke. But it is absurd to think that a rug is antique because it is dirty ”

“ It is rare to find an antique of such enormous size, and the marvellous sheen and good preservation of the rug render it a choice specimen. The texture is like velvet in its softness, the Persian knotting is firm, and the shadings of green, rose, blue, yellow, purple, violet, and red all blend in perfect harmony. The pile is even, and the border with its exquisite hues is a study in color blending. The green of the widest border-stripe is particularly reposeful in effect. ”

“ The Rhodian lily sometimes plays a part in the border design. White, red, blue, a light tan, and green, with an occasional touch of violet, are used. [Pg 80] The webbing is red, and extends about an inch and a half, when a narrow fringe finishes the ends.
Meles (Melhaz) rugs of modern make are of coarse texture, and brilliant in fugitive dyes of red, yellow, blue, and green. They find a market at Milassa. The modern prayer rug does not compare favorably in any way with the antique. The texture of the ancient rug is thin, but with a wealth of coloring and blending of hues, as beautiful as rare. ”

“ A few months later, when she was old enough to be put down on the floor, she showed a great fancy for the rag rugs, with their gay stripes. These rugs are called Habitant carpets, and are made by the industrious method of sewing together long strips of colored cloth, these strips are rolled into big balls, as large as one's head, and six of these balls, when woven with carpet thread, make a very pretty rug. Most of the convents have looms where [78] they will weave these balls for a small sum of money per yard. ”

“ Carpets not only keep the dirt in the house, but they involve that annual bugbear, house-cleaning. Even when the floors are old and poor, the space around the edge of a rug may be puttied and painted so as to look very well when the rug is put down. By rugs, I do not mean several little rugs, like oases in the slippery surface, or at the doorways to trip the unwary, but a good, generous-sized rug which just escapes the edges of the heavier furniture around the sides of the room ”

“ Servian rugs are woven throughout all Servia, but the principal seat of the industry is at Pirot, on the southern boundary of the Balkan Mountains. The rugs are of wool, and the best are very durable. The dyes are generally vegetable, the weaving is a home industry, and the designs are all worked on a black or red ground. The preferment in the modern rug is for red, [Pg 137] but the older rugs had the black ground. The general design is an extended square, in the centre of which is a panel. The rest of the field is filled with stripes and geometrical forms in rather bright and varied coloring. ”

“ Since we were made to stand erect and look up, it is irritating to have one's eyes drawn downward by the unattractive attraction of an ugly rug. The colonial cotton rag rugs are quite the most desirable for bedroom use, from a sanitary as well as an artistic standpoint, and are woven to produce charming effects. The usual combination is two colors—white with blue, yellow, green, or pink, black with red, different shades of the same color, etc. Occasionally three colors are used, but more are apt to destroy the dainty simplicity which is the chief charm of rugs of this kind. ”

“ Sometimes the Tree of Life is represented, its branches bearing different fruits, and often there are symbolical little birds in the border. Sometimes a vase of flowers is the principal ornament, or several small trees either with or without foliage. Silk has often been introduced into the old rugs with charming effect. The Kirman rug is one of the most easily recognizable. It is of very fine quality, and is highly decorative. Antique rugs of this kind have the finest of wool, and, with the artistic arrangement of beautiful flowers, cypress trees, and palm effects, are most pleasing. ”

“ But experience has long since made it clear to all of us that rugs are not only more healthful and in better taste, but, taken by and large, give less trouble to the housekeeper than carpets. Owing to the fixed position of the latter they are, too, quality for quality, less durable. It is true that in some parts of the house a rug or carpet fastened down may be desirable, but with good floors no such thing will suggest itself in the living rooms at least. ”

“ Lay it on a board floor, if [Pg 134] possible, and apart from other rugs, and see that it lies flat and straight. None but those that are firm enough to lie well are desirable for use and general comfort. Of course many fine antiques are their own sufficient excuse for exception from this rule.
If in doubt as to whether a rug has aniline dyes or been doctored or painted, a handkerchief moistened with the tongue may sometimes discover the truth. Painting a rug is a device not unfrequently practised when the nap is worn down and the warp shows white. ”

“ They can be made of all sorts of pieces, even the smallest; they wear well, and can easily be made beautiful.
The building up of a rag carpet or rag rug industry is a much simpler matter, because the demand exists everywhere for cheap, durable and well-coloured floor covering. In my own experience I have found that the thing chiefly necessary is to teach the weavers that the colour must be pleasing and permanent, and to put them in communication with sources of [130] supply of rags and warp. The rugs sell themselves, and probably will continue to do so. ”

“ Undoubtedly the most useful—and from a utilitarian point of view the most perfect—rag rug is made from worn ingrain carpet, especially if it is of the honest all-wool kind, and not the modern mixture of cotton and wool. There are places in the textile world where a mixture of cotton and wool is highly advantageous, but in ingrain carpeting, where the sympathetic fibre of the wool holds fast to its adopted colour, and the less tenacious cotton allows it to drift easily away, the result is a rusty grayness of colour which shames the whole fabric. ”

“ I have said that, as a rule, light warps must go with dark filling and dark warps with light, and I will add a few general rules which I have found advantageous in my weaving.
In the first place, in rugs which are largely of one colour, as blue, or green, or red, or yellow, no effort should be made to secure even dyeing; in fact, the more uneven the colour is the better will be the rug. Dark and light and spotted colour work into a shaded effect which is very attractive. The most successful of the simple rugs I possess is of a cardinal red woven upon a white warp. ”

“ For rugs made of carpet wool, string a three-eighths-inch warp of twine, or oriental cord, the color of the body of the rug. Use a deep tone of red, olive green, or any preferred color, with a stripe at each end. A study of rugs will soon enable one to get the right proportion of rug and stripe. Beautiful rugs are made with a succession of Roman stripes separated by a narrow one of deep red, green, or blue, the ends of the rug being woven of the same color. Center and corner patterns can be woven by placing the pattern under the warp. ”

“ Many rugs that are crooked may easily be straightened by tacking them face downward in the proper shape and wetting them. They should be kept in that position until thoroughly dried and shrunken to the proper shape. Obstinate and conspicuous stains may be removed by clipping the discolored pile down flat to the warp, carefully pulling out the knots from the back of the rug and having new ones inserted. ”

“ Rugs, when they cannot be carried out of the [131] room, may be swept according to the directions for carpets and then rolled up, or folded round some piece of furniture difficult to move, until the floor has been cared for. The pleasantest and best way to clean rugs, however, is to take them out of doors and beat them on the grass or on a clothes line. Beat them with a furniture beater, or light cane, or stick, first on one side then on the other, then lay flat and brush the surface with a broom. Beating is better than shaking, both for the rug and for the shaker. ”

“ Well, it stands up on its four feet and walks all around, and gets in the way; and that spoils it for a rug. It can't speak, although it is alive; for, while its head might say words, it has no breath in a solid body to push the words out of its mouth. It's a very slimpsy affair altogether, that bear rug, and the old woman is sorry it came to life. Every day she has to scold it, and make it lie down flat on the parlor floor to be walked upon; but sometimes when she goes to market the rug will hump up its back skin, and stand on its four feet, and trot along after her. ”

“ In the majority of cases the use of a single large plain rug is by far the best plan, for it gives the feeling of an unobtrusive background whose beauty of color serves to bind the room in the unity of a well planned scheme; and this sense of dignity and solidity goes a long way on the road to success. It is one of the most satisfactory methods of covering a floor imaginable. ”

“ If you expect to close your home for several weeks or months do not leave your rugs on the floor. After having all necessary repairs made, have them thoroughly cleaned by the compressed air process, then place them in canvas or strong paper bags, sealing them tightly. A large rug may be wrapped with clean white paper, then with tar paper. It is better to roll than to fold them, but if folded always see that the pile is on the inside, else bad creases may be made in them which may never come out. ”

“ For the primitive bungalow, grass rugs or those made of fiber, of which there are many charming and very smart ones to choose from, are very effective, if your furnishings are very simple and you haven’t much color about. But in the permanent type of house almost any kind of carpet rug, Oriental or Chinese rug can be used. ”

“ First, there are the all-wool rugs for general use in the house, then mixed wool and cotton rugs for the piazza, all cotton for bedroom and bathroom, mixed cotton and silk and entire silk for portières and couch-covers, and for covers for sofa-pillows.
154There are also rugs of heavy cotton, such as denim in its dull reds, blues, yellows, greens, and browns.
The size of a rug for general use is usually one yard wide by two yards long, the yard width being the limit of the ordinary loom. ”

“ Of smaller rugs required both for ornament and use, the Shiraz, Feraghan, Mosul, Bergamo, Tcherkess, Bokhara, and Beluchistan are desirable.
As is the case with other works of art, so much deception can be practised in the sale of rugs that a purchaser cannot use too much circumspection. Sometimes through ignorance or with intention, a dealer will declare that the wool of a rug which has been coloured with aniline dyes has been coloured with vegetable dyes only; that a rug washed with acid has matured naturally; that a new rug which has been artificially worn almost to the knot is an antique ”

“ Hooked rugs such as our grandmothers used to make are great fun to do. Why should not a little girl make one of finer materials for the floor of her doll's house? Either an empty slate frame or a wooden frame such as is sold by dealers in kindergarten supplies for chair caning will do very well to hold the canvas of which the rug is made. Instead of strips of woolen we shall use worsted of various colours, and a strong steel crochet needle will be needed for "hooking." ”

“ Very fine and beautiful silk rugs are woven there now by Turkish women and girls. The Great Mosque and the Mosque of the Thunderbolt at Brusa both contain rare old rugs.
OLD GHIORDES PRAYER RUG Size, 4.6 × 6.9
The rich magenta which is the field of this rug has been mellowed by time. There is throughout the rug a softness and harmony of tone that is very pleasing. The niche is high, and the corner areas and the border are in richly blended blues and yellows, with magenta. The delicacy of the floral designs, and the warmth of tone, give it a particular charm. ”