END FINISHES PROJECT

Woven Structures Update

When we try to determine where village or nomad rugs and bags were made, small details can be informative. Although weavers may use a variety of materials and may change the scale of their weaves to suit their objects, they tend to use the same end finishes, selvage constructions, and other distinctive techniques consistently--on both flatwoven and knotted-pile objects.

On these pages I discuss several warp-end finishes and illustrate variations on each. The goal was to accumulate a small data base showing the range of rugs or weavings with each basic structure. Decorative flat-weave borders that embellish the ends of some pile rugs and bags are not truly end finishes, but because they have been frequently misunderstood, they are included. Daniel Deschuyteneer worked with me on this project; indeed, it was his interest that prompted it.

If you encounter unusual end finishes and wish to share them, please send photos of your rugs, along with close-ups of their end finishes or decorative borders and as much technical information as possible. I will try my best to answer questions you may have. For suggestions on what to send, click here. Accurate labels may be a problem with some of the rugs shown, so if you have ideas about their derivation, please let me know.

To view each group below, click on its heading.

                  Marla Mallett