Oriental carpets use the natural fibers such as wool, cotton and silk. Only exception to this rule is the occasional use of gold and silver or other threads used for pure silk and workshop carpets. In addition to wool, cotton and silk, goat and camel hair also used for the carpets and kilims.

Wool.

The wool which is soft, durable and easy to work is the most widely used rug making material. Good wool should have the softness with strength. Best wool comes from the lambs between 8 and 14 months and living in colder highlands. But sometimes, as also the name of the carpet might indicate the wool comes from the flanks and shoulders of the lamb where the fiber is longest.

Process of wool.

First the wool is washed and carded, a process which teases the wool into longer and straighter fibers. Then fibers are hand spun into a continuous thread, which is twisted with other threats, in the opposite direction that they were spun, to form the yarn.

Cotton.

Cotton who is one of the main agricultural products of Turkey is used as a foundation material on the wool and cotton carpets. As a foundation material, it has some advantages. It is strong, doesn't lose its shape and can be spun into very fine yarn, which helps weavers to obtain very fine weaving.

In Kayseri, a central Anatolian town in Turkey, mercerized wool, which is called art wool, is used for weaving.

Silk.

Silk, which only Chines produced, was introduced to Byzantine Empire in the 6t century. Two monks from Byzantine land went to Chine and managed to smuggle the secret of the silk. Starting from those years, the silk started to be produced in Byzantine Empire and became inevitable material for the royalty.

The larva of silkworm produced silk. It has been cultivated successfully in number of countries including Iran, Turkey, India and Soviet Union.

Finest silk for rug making comes from the Caspian Sea area.

In carpet weaving, silk is mainly used alone. In some rare case, it is used with wool. Silk is also used as foundation material.

As a material, silk has some limitations. First of all, the silk is reasonably hard wearing. It retains the creases or scuffing and far greater care is needed to protect them from the damages. But physical beauty of the silk is unsurpassed and silk rugs are used as decorative piece rather them functional pieces.