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Handmade Carpets And Rugs: Wool, Cashmere, Woolen And Kashmir
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Published: April 30, 2007
For the serious collector or decorator, there is no substitute for handmade goods. Though they can be both harder to locate and more expensive, furnishing a home with handmade carpets gives a home a touch of distinction, individuality, and class. Handmade carpets are a clear-cut message that their owner has a unique and discerning taste, to say nothing of an appreciation for superior craftsmanship and technique.
Handmade carpets offer a level of distinction that mass-produced factory rugs simply cannot match. Wool carpets are no exception to this rule, and are in fact the preferred material for many weavers and craftsmen due to the fiber's ease of use and manipulation. When searching for high-quality woolen handmade rugs, the Internet can be a great asset for both value and style. But shoppers for handmade carpets should still be very specific and careful about what they are buying and where it is coming from. A few tips:
First, those shopping for wool handmade carpets online should read the language of any website very carefully to ensure that wool carpets advertised as “handmade carpets”are, indeed, handmade. Often, less reputable websites find it all too easy to lie about the origins of the carpets they offer. In those cases, because of the rather impersonal nature of the Internet, customers often do not notice the defects or shoddiness associated with machine-woven wool carpets until it is too late. Luckily, there are some very easy ways to overcome this problem, most notably a warning never to do business with an unfamiliar retailer.
There are many large, highly rated and public businesses offering a wide selection of carpets on the Internet. Larger, certified retailers such as eRugGallery.com offer comprehensive buying guides, full money-back guarantees, and other features designed to enforce the trustworthiness of the site and help the customer feel as satisfied as possible. It is important for a customer never to do business with a site that looks or feels insecure or unsafe, and with today's online offerings for woolen handmade rugs, there is no need to do so.
Even without the fear of outright fraud, online shoppers for handmade carpets are still at the disadvantage of having to select a carpet without physically seeing it. Because photos can be deceiving, it is therefore also extremely important for shoppers to know the specific details of the wool carpets they are looking at. A reputable website should list not only the style and dimensions of the handmade carpets, but also their layout, weave, condition, and make (where the rug was actually made). All of these are important factors in determining the total value of the carpet, and will give the potential shopper a better concept of the handmade carpets' true value.
For example, if a website claims that the handmade carpets in question are made of cashmere, they could potentially charge a great deal more money without actually substantiating that claim. In fact, the name cashmere or Kashmir is often used to describe particularly soft wool of any sort, when in reality it only really applies to a specific and more rare form of goat's wool from the Kashmir region of the Indian subcontinent. A reputable site should be able to authentically identify the origins of the cashmere material, and produce additional proof of the handmade carpets authenticity.
Shopping for handmade carpets online is meant to be an easier and less stressful experience, and it can be. So long as extra care and diligence is put into ensuring the quality and reliability of the retailers and the item in question, online shopping for handmade carpets can still prove to be an easy and deeply rewarding experience.
Sources:
Learn About Rugs. eRugGallery.com. 2007. 18 April 2007. http://www.eruggallery.com/learnrugs/learn_detail/ lrn_dtl.htm
“Cashmere Wool.” Wikipedia. 13 April 2007. 18 April 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashmere_wool.
About Rugs. Pangaea Handmade Carpets. 2005. 18 April 2007. http://www.pangaeacarpets.com/about_rugs.htm
Handmade carpets offer a level of distinction that mass-produced factory rugs simply cannot match. Wool carpets are no exception to this rule, and are in fact the preferred material for many weavers and craftsmen due to the fiber's ease of use and manipulation. When searching for high-quality woolen handmade rugs, the Internet can be a great asset for both value and style. But shoppers for handmade carpets should still be very specific and careful about what they are buying and where it is coming from. A few tips:
First, those shopping for wool handmade carpets online should read the language of any website very carefully to ensure that wool carpets advertised as “handmade carpets”are, indeed, handmade. Often, less reputable websites find it all too easy to lie about the origins of the carpets they offer. In those cases, because of the rather impersonal nature of the Internet, customers often do not notice the defects or shoddiness associated with machine-woven wool carpets until it is too late. Luckily, there are some very easy ways to overcome this problem, most notably a warning never to do business with an unfamiliar retailer.
There are many large, highly rated and public businesses offering a wide selection of carpets on the Internet. Larger, certified retailers such as eRugGallery.com offer comprehensive buying guides, full money-back guarantees, and other features designed to enforce the trustworthiness of the site and help the customer feel as satisfied as possible. It is important for a customer never to do business with a site that looks or feels insecure or unsafe, and with today's online offerings for woolen handmade rugs, there is no need to do so.
Even without the fear of outright fraud, online shoppers for handmade carpets are still at the disadvantage of having to select a carpet without physically seeing it. Because photos can be deceiving, it is therefore also extremely important for shoppers to know the specific details of the wool carpets they are looking at. A reputable website should list not only the style and dimensions of the handmade carpets, but also their layout, weave, condition, and make (where the rug was actually made). All of these are important factors in determining the total value of the carpet, and will give the potential shopper a better concept of the handmade carpets' true value.
For example, if a website claims that the handmade carpets in question are made of cashmere, they could potentially charge a great deal more money without actually substantiating that claim. In fact, the name cashmere or Kashmir is often used to describe particularly soft wool of any sort, when in reality it only really applies to a specific and more rare form of goat's wool from the Kashmir region of the Indian subcontinent. A reputable site should be able to authentically identify the origins of the cashmere material, and produce additional proof of the handmade carpets authenticity.
Shopping for handmade carpets online is meant to be an easier and less stressful experience, and it can be. So long as extra care and diligence is put into ensuring the quality and reliability of the retailers and the item in question, online shopping for handmade carpets can still prove to be an easy and deeply rewarding experience.
Sources:
Learn About Rugs. eRugGallery.com. 2007. 18 April 2007. http://www.eruggallery.com/learnrugs/learn_detail/ lrn_dtl.htm
“Cashmere Wool.” Wikipedia. 13 April 2007. 18 April 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashmere_wool.
About Rugs. Pangaea Handmade Carpets. 2005. 18 April 2007. http://www.pangaeacarpets.com/about_rugs.htm
