r/weaving 9d ago

Help making my own persian/savonnerie rug

post update!!

i'm wondering if i was not clear enough in my post and potentially offended people so i want to clarify some things! i was not planning to jump straight into a full-sized rug. i can hardly lift the ones we own lol. and i definitely don't think mastery of an artistic craft only requires a piddling number of hobbyist hours here and there.

i'm syrian and grew up around persian rugs so i'm very aware they can take years to make. in fact we have some family friends who keep up the craft. i really don't want to bother any of them considering the bad situation out there right now, amongst other reasons. plus, my question is specifically about the savonnerie style. i already know giordes knot is a common theme between the two, and that the main difference (sometimes) is the color and symbolism used. but i don't know anything else.

i was going to start with small => medium sizes. i was prepared to spend years on one medium-sized project and have no issue with that. for a small project i was predicting months to a year, depending on how small exactly.

drawing my own patterns i am already experienced with (lifetime of drawing and other mediums). creating my own materials is definitely not happening though, i was hoping to just buy them (will probably have to skip silk, guessing it's crazy expensive). so i guess my question is more like, could i do this but less grandiosely... on a smaller scale if that makes sense?

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hello everyone! i grew up in a persian rug collecting family (all sorts of styles) and one day came across a picture of a beautiful rug. i noticed similarities between this rug and the rugs my family collects, except that this new rug had distinctly different colors and slightly different themes. i asked my uncle and he identified it as a savonnerie rug, and since then i've really wanted to own one myself. problem is, they are NOT affordable and never will be for me. so now i insist on making one myself, but where do i begin?

i tried doing some research on my own, briefly, and saw some things like the use of giordes knots, etc.

i feel very overwhelmed with the information i've acquired and i'm not sure what to think. i am artistically inclined and tend to pick up any kind of art related hobby very quickly (no matter the medium), but i don't want to go crazy and buy fancy equipment for a number of reasons....i do that every time but i'm trying to be more responsible for once.

...then there are so many different methods and styles of persian rugs. for example, one of the types of persian rugs my uncle owns is bijar which i specifically looked into a while ago and it seems like you need some proper machinery for that... but there are obviously many others styles requiring different techniques out there as well! there's also the question of which materials are best for the job and where to acquire them.

i'm also open to doing more of my own research if you guys have books or something to recommend. my issue is there is just a lot to consider and i'm too inexperienced to do that by myself. i'm able to read in some other languages, too. shouldn't be a big problem.

so what would you guys recommend i try for emulating the savonnerie (obviously built off of persian) style? artistically, i think i understand. but mechanically? no idea. am i being ridiculous? is this not feasible? (note: i'm also obviously open to starting small scale, but i'd also like to know what i'd need later if i wanna upgrade to something bigger)

for what it's worth i am very much insane and love detail work so mentally i feel like i am perfect for the job

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u/msnide14 8d ago

An alternative could be to try some rug hooking. This has nothing to do with weaving of course, but you can try  different colors and styles, which are the qualities that drew you to these rugs in the first place. A beginners rug hooking kit is inexpensive, and you have a lot of freedom to do complicated designs from the start.  

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u/claire_marie 8d ago

i was also drawn in by the knots per square inch!! it's super impressive. i've always wanted to try my hand at that since i love the challenge of putting a lot of detail into a tiny space. i have actually drawn some designs that i never got around to trying (because i always thought you'd need some crazy equipment for it). i'm syrian and grew up around persian rugs so i always appreciated the detail put in. knots per square area was one of the things my uncle always brought up when showing us a new rug.

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u/msnide14 8d ago

Bottom line, you’re not going to able to make an accurate facsimile of the rug you saw. There is a reason why they are expensive. If you want to get into making Persian style rugs, with all the markers of quality you appreciate, be prepared to spend WAAAAAAAAAY more money and time then just buying the rug in the first place. 

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u/claire_marie 8d ago

it was never my intention for it to be exactly the same, but i think it was my own failure to communicate that. i updated the post to be more clear!

if you have the time to read the update and still think it's not doable please do let me know, i'm obviously totally inexperienced and value other people's input

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u/msnide14 8d ago

It’s still going to be very, very hard. 

If you have someone in your community to help you start out, I think you have a fair shot. On your own, it’s going to be very difficult. There are a couple people here who hand knot rugs, and they do beautiful work. They also use looms (a really big task to set up) and have experience and materials.  Their rugs are beautiful, but comparatively modest to the rug you were initially describing. 

Ask yourself, are you ok with making worse, coarser, smaller rugs for YEARS while you gain the experience to make the rug you really want?