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Color
The two most important things in creating rugs are design and color.Colors are important factor in
determining the origin of hand made rugs. Each area uses different combination of colors and different
types of dyes. Colors, whether synthetic or natural, are chosen according to their availability in the
area in which the rugs are woven. Rugs have background color and border color.
The background color is the dominant color in the background.The most widely used background
colors are red, blue, beige and yellow.These colors come in different shades.
In many rugs the border color is not as noticeable as background color ,this it due to the colorful
designs and patterns in the border which overshadow the actual color of the border. The most
common border colors are red, blue, beige, yellow and green. They come in different shades as well.
Natural Dyes
Until the late nineteenth century only natural dyes were used for coloring weaving yarns. Natural dyes
include plant dyes, animal dyes, and mineral dyes.
Plant dyes come from roots, flowers, leaves, fruit, and bark of plants. Woad, a plant of the mustard
family, and indigo, a bush from the pea family, are used for blue dye.
Yellow is produced from saffron, safflower, sumac, turmeric, onionskin, rhubarb, weld, and fustic.
Madder has been used since ancient times for reds. Redwood and Brazilwood are also used for reds.
Browns and blacks come from catechu dye, oak bark, oak galls, acorn husks, tea, and walnut husks.
Henna is used for orange. For green, indigo over-dyed with any of a variety of yellow dyes is used.
Mineral dyes come from ocher (yellow, brown, red), limestone or lime (white), manganese (black),
cinnabar and lead oxide (red), azurite and lapis lazuli (blue), and malachite (green).
Dyers are able to get a variety of colors and shades from the same source depending on the type of
material used, the characteristic of local water, and the use of different mordants. For example, from
pomegranate skin they can produce a range of colors from red to black by using different mordants.
Also, as with a painter's palette, all the primary natural colors employed could be mixed to produce a
wide variety of secondary hues. Today, natural dyes are still used in some traditional dye-houses and
villages where natural sources are readily accessible.
Synthetic Dyes
In the mid-nineteenth century, as the demand for handmade rugs increased in the West, their
production increased in the East. The need for easy-to-use and less expensive dyes with wider range
of colors caused the development of synthetic dyes in Europe and especially in Germany. Synthetic
dyes were soon imported to Persia (Iran), Anatolia (Turkey), and other Eastern countries. The first
synthetic dye, Fuchsine (a magenta aniline), was developed in the 1850s. Shortly after, other synthetic
aniline dyes followed. Synthetic aniline dyes made from coal tar were brilliant, inexpensive, and easy to
use; however, they faded rapidly with exposure to light and water. In 1903 Nasser-e-Din Shah, the
Persian king of Qajar Dynasty, banned the use of aniline dyes in Iran. Persian weavers discontinued
the use of synthetic dyes until the modern synthetic chrome dyes were developed in the years between
the First and the Second World Wars. Chrome dyes are colorfast (any dye that retains its intensity
despite exposure to light and water), and are produced in an infinite variety of attractive colors and
shades.
Today, mostly chrome synthetic dyes are used for coloring weaving yarns. Natural dyes are used in
places where they are easily obtainable. Sometimes the two are combined together in the same rug,
and the weavers use the best type of dye available to them. In some cases they can find good quality
dyes in nature, and in other cases they get better results from the synthetic dyes.
How many different colors are used in a rug
As the number of colors used increases, expect to pay more for the rug. In some museum quality rugs
(made by master weavers) the number of colors reaches as high as 250. It takes years of experience
and knowledge to create rugs with such complex coloration.
Meaning of Colors in Persian Rugs
The two most important things in creating rugs are design and color.Colors are important factor in
determining the origin of hand made rugs. Each area uses different combination of colors and different
types of dyes. Colors, whether synthetic or natural, are chosen according to their availability in the
area in which the rugs are woven. Rugs have background color and border color.
The background color is the dominant color in the background.The most widely used background
colors are red, blue, beige and yellow.These colors come in different shades.
In many rugs the border color is not as noticeable as background color ,this it due to the colorful
designs and patterns in the border which overshadow the actual color of the border. The most
common border colors are red, blue, beige, yellow and green. They come in different shades as well.
Natural Dyes
Until the late nineteenth century only natural dyes were used for coloring weaving yarns. Natural dyes
include plant dyes, animal dyes, and mineral dyes.
Plant dyes come from roots, flowers, leaves, fruit, and bark of plants. Woad, a plant of the mustard
family, and indigo, a bush from the pea family, are used for blue dye.
Yellow is produced from saffron, safflower, sumac, turmeric, onionskin, rhubarb, weld, and fustic.
Madder has been used since ancient times for reds. Redwood and Brazilwood are also used for reds.
Browns and blacks come from catechu dye, oak bark, oak galls, acorn husks, tea, and walnut husks.
Henna is used for orange. For green, indigo over-dyed with any of a variety of yellow dyes is used.
Mineral dyes come from ocher (yellow, brown, red), limestone or lime (white), manganese (black),
cinnabar and lead oxide (red), azurite and lapis lazuli (blue), and malachite (green).
Dyers are able to get a variety of colors and shades from the same source depending on the type of
material used, the characteristic of local water, and the use of different mordants. For example, from
pomegranate skin they can produce a range of colors from red to black by using different mordants.
Also, as with a painter's palette, all the primary natural colors employed could be mixed to produce a
wide variety of secondary hues. Today, natural dyes are still used in some traditional dye-houses and
villages where natural sources are readily accessible.
Synthetic Dyes
In the mid-nineteenth century, as the demand for handmade rugs increased in the West, their
production increased in the East. The need for easy-to-use and less expensive dyes with wider range
of colors caused the development of synthetic dyes in Europe and especially in Germany. Synthetic
dyes were soon imported to Persia (Iran), Anatolia (Turkey), and other Eastern countries. The first
synthetic dye, Fuchsine (a magenta aniline), was developed in the 1850s. Shortly after, other synthetic
aniline dyes followed. Synthetic aniline dyes made from coal tar were brilliant, inexpensive, and easy to
use; however, they faded rapidly with exposure to light and water. In 1903 Nasser-e-Din Shah, the
Persian king of Qajar Dynasty, banned the use of aniline dyes in Iran. Persian weavers discontinued
the use of synthetic dyes until the modern synthetic chrome dyes were developed in the years between
the First and the Second World Wars. Chrome dyes are colorfast (any dye that retains its intensity
despite exposure to light and water), and are produced in an infinite variety of attractive colors and
shades.
Today, mostly chrome synthetic dyes are used for coloring weaving yarns. Natural dyes are used in
places where they are easily obtainable. Sometimes the two are combined together in the same rug,
and the weavers use the best type of dye available to them. In some cases they can find good quality
dyes in nature, and in other cases they get better results from the synthetic dyes.
How many different colors are used in a rug
As the number of colors used increases, expect to pay more for the rug. In some museum quality rugs
(made by master weavers) the number of colors reaches as high as 250. It takes years of experience
and knowledge to create rugs with such complex coloration.
Meaning of Colors in Persian Rugs
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