DESIGN
Every carpet is drawn to scale on graph paper with a grid the same as the knot density to be utilized.  For example one square inch may have 10 horizontal and 10 vertical knots, equaling 100 knots per square inch (psi).  Each size rug to be woven must be scaled separately and design elements may be modified as necessary for appearance.  The color of each knot is painted onto the graph. The finished drawing is called a naksheh and is given to the weaver who places it onto the loom and reads it like sheet music
 
FIBERS
Carpets may be woven with wool, silk, cotton or synthetic yarn pile.  Our carpets are woven with New Zealand wool.  Raw wool is supplied in bales and must be carded to align the fibers.  This is usually done by machine.  Once carded, the wool is ready to be spun into yarn.  Two methods are commonly used:  machine spun and hand spun.  Machine spinning provides yarn of uniform diameter which produces a smooth, even-colored finish.  Hand spinning yields yarn with varying diameter, which produces a soft, variegated surface look.  We use both methods in our rugs to achieve different effects present in original Arts & Crafts carpets.
 
DYEING 
After the wool is spun into yarn, it must be dyed to produce color.  Natural wool is transported to the dyer where two types of dyes are used.  Synthetic dyes are chrome based, give a huge variety of colors and can be consistently reproduced.  Natural dyes are extracted from plants and minerals.  They provide a wide range of colors, some of which are difficult to achieve with synthetic dyes, and are nearly impossible to consistently replicate.  We use Swiss chrome dyes in our carpets to provide color continuity between rugs as yarn is dyed as needed, not stored in huge lots.  Dye lots are hung out to dry, bundled, and transported back to the weaver where they are rolled into skeins in preparation for weaving.
 
WEAVING 
To execute the design we must weave the carpet.  A vertical loom is used.  The first step is warping the loom.  Cotton warp strings run through the carpet from end to end and may be recognized as the fringe in the finished product.  The warp is wrapped as a continuous string and is set up to produce the required knot density, i.e., 10 per linear inch.  During warping every other warp string is passed through the heddle.  Upon completion this allows the weaver to separate the warps and pass a horizontal thread, the weft, between them with ease.  After the loom is warped, weaving begins by placing a few rows of cotton weft at the bottom end.  After this, the pile is tied to the warps knot-by-knot using asymmetrical knots until one entire horizontal row of knots is tied.  Then 1-2 rows of horizontal cotton weft are applied and packed tightly with a comb hammer.  This process is repeated over and over until the design is complete.  One of our 8x10 rugs will contain between 576,000 and 1,152,000 hand-tied knots, depending on the type of wool used.

FINISHING
Upon completion of weaving, the warp is cut at both ends and the carpet is removed from the loom.  Next it is washed with detergents and scraped with wooden paddles three times.  This softens the colors and the pile.  The carpet is then sewn to pipes on all four sides and stretched square using turnbuckles.  Once dry, the back of the carpet is starched to hold square.  The next step is shearing.  This is done in three steps, all by hand by crews of varying numbers depending on the size of the rug.  At the final shearing the pile surface of the rug is exactly as you see it upon purchase.  Next the selvedge is applied by a specialist who adds an additional warp using his feet and then apples the selvedge wrap with a needle and thread.  Finally the fringe at both ends must be appropriately finished.  This varies greatly according to design and procedure.  We stain the white cotton warp a tea color to complement the rug.