About rug dying

Let us first look at the process of vegetable dyeing to find a number of points to base our judgment on.

• There will be variations of shade in each colour.  For example, on a plain red ground rug with a medallion centre, the red will have different bands of red (this is known as an 'abrush'). This is due to the wool being dyed at different periods.

• If you were dyeing madder red, you would steep the wool in a vat for say twelve hours with madder roots. After that time on the boil, you would then spread the wool out on the ground in the sun to dry. The wool, which is on the top, would dry quickly and the wool underneath, which has a heavy residue of dye left in it is darker. Between the top and the bottom layer, there might be as many as ten shades, which when drawn out for spinning will be either bands of colours or each strand or knot will contain the ten shades. With this variation, the lighter shades catch the light and reflect the colour in a most delightful way, giving perhaps a false patina.