Rugs in Turkey

I had been planning to do my blogs in some sort of order of the trip but that is not going to happen.
I am busy trying to do my tapestry weaving for hand-in day and it is taking all of my time.  I have actually not used my computer much at all!
So I am just going to post occasionally about some topics that interest me from the trip. Actually, the further away from the trip, the more time I have to reflect on what we did - we did a lot!  And we saw so much. It is all coming back to me as I talk about it and look through my photos. At the time, days began to blur together and it was hard to remember what we saw where.  It is all coming clearer, so I expect to be posting about it for quite a while.

This one is about the rug making factory.

First of all we were shown some traditional silk weaving - amazingly intricate and the women were so fast!!!
(Yes, we were given permission to take photos.)

The rug is made with knots and the design is copied from some graph paper.  It can take 2 years to make a relatively small rug, no wonder they are expensive.  But I doubt that the weavers get the full benefit of the high prices, there are so many people involved in the process of making and selling it.

After putting in some knots, the women shear off the ends to make the rug smooth.

The intricacy of the designs was daunting.  The colours were beautiful.  The amount of work is amazing.  Well worth every penny spent on one of these rugs - not that I bought one but I would have loved to have done so.  They were beautiful.