TURKEY Part 14 -- Day 7

After leaving the underground city we drove to a carpet factory. Here we got to watch them making the "Turkish double knot" carpets. These are all really hand made and very beautiful. These carpets are made of two basic materials. First there are cotton base with cotton knots. They also make silk knots on the cotton base and of course silk knots on silk base. The silk on silk is the most intricate as the thread is finer. They are also the softest. This picture shows how they work with the pattern on top and tie each string with the proper color knotted thread.
This is a close up of the girl tying the knot. These ladies were amazingly fast at their work. The blade in her hand is used to quickly cut the thread after tying the knot. They do that with just a quick simple flick of the wrist.
After they tie the row of knots they tamp them down with this comb type tool. This is to keep them very tightly woven.
After tamping the weave tightly they take these scissor type tools and trim the threads. It was amazing to watch these ladies work. The detail was so fine. We learned that the men learn to make pottery and the women weave. These two skills make for good husbands and wives.
After watching the ladies for a bit we were taken to another room where we saw how they get the silk for the carpets. This is where they take the cocoons spun by the worms and wash them.

Then to unwind the cocoons they use a brush and just tamp up and down in the water where the cocoons are to get them to start unraveling.
From there they unwind the cocoons and then spin them into threads and put into the dyes. Following this we were treated to a private showing of some of the carpets and taught a bit about what to look for when buying carpets. We ended up buying a carpet for a wall hanging that is silk on silk.

After leaving there we drove back to the pottery factory to finish our tour. We were taking to a back room where we saw them making the white or more porcelain type pots and plates. Here is a guy making one of the dishes.
They then hand paint the designs on these pots.
After the design is hand drawn they then color them in with these fine brushes.
This is a finished play showing the Tree of Life that was a very popular design.
Here is another platter of course all hand painted.
This is a wine carafe that was used anciently. It is placed over the shoulder then you can pour easily. I wanted to get one but at this place they were very expensive. We never did find one that I was happy with anywhere else. Guess I will have to save that for another trip.