Features of Kyrgyz Carpet
The loom for producing pile carpets, under the drawing of the weaving loom, is schematically represented in a horizontal cross-section, explaining the formation of the shed. Batken District.
A feature of the Kyrgyz carpet is the presence of fringe, consisting of warp threads (20—25 cm) braided together.
Preparing the weft threads is not as complicated as for the warp. The thread is spun loosely and then very slightly twisted. Therefore, the weft is soft and slightly fluffy. For convenience in threading, the threads are wound onto a stick 20—25 cm long.
The edge of the Kyrgyz carpet is usually framed with a narrow strip called "zhoorop." For this, paired warp threads are interwoven with colored wefts (brown, green, red, blue) as in the braid "chirmama." The threads are prepared thickened and slightly twisted.
For the pile, Kyrgyz artisans prepare the best sheep wool with longer fibers, as the quality of the pile largely determines the quality of the carpet. It is also spun very loosely, lightly, and after spinning, the threads are not twisted. The spun wool is dyed, so the threads for the pile are usually prepared from white or gray wool.
The loom for producing pile carpets in southern Kyrgyzstan does not have a special name. In its structure, it is extremely simple, similar to Uzbek and Turkmen looms. It is simply called a loom ("dukbn"). It is set up horizontally on the ground. The stretched warp stands about 25—30 cm above the ground surface.
The frame of the loom is tied from four thick logs. Such looms were used by Kyrgyz in the past for making carpets for sale. However, they usually made looms and continue to make them even more primitively. They consist of two poles (zhygach) placed apart at a distance slightly greater than the length of the carpet. Recently, iron pipes with a diameter of 10—12 cm have been used instead of wood. The warp threads are wound onto the poles.
Creating the warp involves two to four, and sometimes six women. Some of them start winding the threads from the middle of the carpet, while others start from the edges. This process is called "jip zhuguru." After winding, the warp threads are carefully aligned and tightened. On top, for stability, as Turkmen do, they are plastered with clay to the poles.
An important part of the loom is the heddle ("kuzuk"). To create it, a heddle stick (kuzuk kotorchu) with a diameter of 6—8 cm is used, the length of which is slightly longer than the width of the wound warp. Supports (a small bench, bricks, stones) about 30—35 cm high are placed under its ends. A stick is placed on the heddle, over which cotton threads are tied into loops, passing one thread of the lower row of the warp through one thread of the upper row. Thus, the loops of the heddle threads encompass all the threads of the lower row of the warp through the thread of its upper row. This forms the shed between the warp threads.
The shed is supported by a shed-forming stick "chalys aluu saboo" (with a diameter of 10—55 cm), located behind the heddle stick. By moving it closer to or away from the heddles, the shed is adjusted.
Work on the loom begins with making a simple strip — "ot-baiy" — 7—10 cm long from warp and weft threads. In Kyrgyz carpets, the color of the warp and weft is usually gray or brown. The fabric is coarse.
Following the strip, a pattern is made from colored threads, that is, the actual pile is created, and the carpet is made. The main artisan arranges the workers at the loom. Difficult sections of the central field of the carpet are entrusted to the best carpet weavers, while less experienced ones occupy places closer to the edge.
The knot in the Kyrgyz carpet is a half-hitch. It is tied in such a way that the weaver takes the warp threads with the index fingers of both hands — one from the top and one from the bottom, and passes the pile thread through these two warp threads with the right hand. In this process, one warp thread is wrapped around, while the other is only embraced from below. Then, the artisan pulls the pile threads towards herself, that is, towards the beginning of the carpet, and cuts them with a sharp knife. This process of work is called "bailoo."
After each row of knots, the weft is passed through — "arkak otkorot." This is an extremely inconvenient process with a horizontally placed wide weaving loom and is significantly more complicated than on a narrow loom. The weft in Kyrgyz carpets is made both single and double. Following the weft, it is beaten down with a mallet (tokmok), which Kyrgyz masters make from very strong wood, usually from apricot. The mallet is a rough wooden block (10—12X16—18 cm) with a handle (see Fig. 37, e). Among the Kyrgyz of the Noygut group, the mallet has a slightly different shape, resembling the shape of a human leg, as the handle is positioned almost at a right angle. The mallet has teeth (1.5—2 cm) that penetrate through the warp threads. When beating the carpet fabric, the artisan presses it down, directing the blow of the mallet towards herself. The blows are made rhythmically, several times.
After passing through two or three rows of knotting, the pile threads are cut with scissors. The height of the pile averages 6—8 mm.
The quality of carpet products is determined by several technical properties: the evenness and degree of thickening of the warp threads, the frequency of knotting, and the nature of the weft thread. Density refers to the number of pile knots that the artisan makes per 1 dm². It is clear that the more knots, the higher the quality of the pile carpet. The number of knots also determines the quality of the pattern (the denser the carpet, the clearer the pattern appears, and the clearer its details stand out).
Kyrgyz carpets can be classified as medium in terms of pile and density. Their density is almost square, ranging from 80,000 to 90,000 knots per 1 m². In smaller carpet products ("bashtyk," "chavadan"), the density is somewhat higher: 100,000 to 120,000 knots per 1 m².
