Felt Carpet Making

Felt carpet making as demonstrated in the village of Tamshi by Baktygul eje and her daughter.

Below is the process we learned for making the ala-kyiz pressed carpet:

1) Get sheep wool and cut out the branding paint and any sticks and debris in the wool

2) beat with iron rods on a wire mesh "bed" raised above the ground about 4 " - this will allow the dust and dirt to fall from the wool while you are beating it. The purpose of beating the wool is to clean it and to loosen the fibers. 1/2 kilo of wool is beaten about 30 minutes

3) boil the wool for 10 minutes to clean it and remove the smell

4) on a reed mat (like sushi mat but bigger) pull uniform pieces of wool vertically, and put them overlapping slightly with each other on the mat. Place the pieces across and then start the next row. when you have the size you want then go horizontally and overlapping again.

5) Then take your colored wool and create your pattern putting the wool abutting each piece of wool. (start with design and then fill in and around.)

6) put a little bit of warm water with shampoo on the wool.

7) put a synthetic cloth over your wool and sponge (squeezing the water) get it very soggy.

8) warp the synthetic fabric under the edges of the wet wool and then roll up your reed mat and put more warm soapy water. put the reed mat on plastic and apply more of the warm water. close up and tie up tightly and put in another bag so you can roll and step on the mat to squeeze out the water and pound

9) do this for 30 minutes for a 18 inch square piece

10) unwrap and stretch into shape, then roll up and knead with your forearms kneading it after rolling in different directions including diagonally.

11) wash in cold water

12) let dry in the sun and then iron on the backside (wool setting)

The other type of felt carpet we were shown is the Shyrdaks:

drawing the design

sewing - note pattern made

completed Shyrdak

a) the maker starts with colored pieces of pressed flat felt and draws with chalk a design. the felt is then folded over so you get a mirror image. This is then outlined again in chalk so that the design can be more easily cut out.

b) cut out the design with the layer of felt that is going to be the background underneath it. You are cutting through the two layers when you are at the design. The pieces are then hand stitched together such that you get a lovely wavy design.

c) three thin strands of colored or natural wool are twisted together in a long cord. This cord is then sewn on to outline the designs.

d) a border for the carpet is made using the same process as outlined above usually with a smaller motif. The border is then attached.

e) another piece of felted wool is sewn onto the back. Hand stitching is then done around the design though to the back layer to quilt the two pieces together. Then another piece of twisted wool cording is sewn on, like a binding, to complete the Shydaks.

Some of the color comes from natural products on white wool: onions - yellow; onions and walnuts - light brown; walnuts - dark brown; dark green - motherwort; red comes from the crimson cochineal insect. The wool is boiled in these ingredients with as little water as needed to cover the wool. Soviet chemical dyes are also used. The thread used for the quilting is a thick cotton one of the color of the background being quilted.